Roorkee, 15th January 2019: With an aim to bring together the industry and academia from transportation sector, IIT Roorkee organized an International Conference on Transportation Infrastructure Projects – Conception to Execution (TIPCE 2019) from 7th January to 10th January 2019. During the conference, higher importance was given to case studies from the transportation sector, construction industries, consulting agencies and academia involved in such studies. The focus remained on understanding how transportation infrastructure projects have been conceptualized, designed and executed so as to bring the desired development in an area or a region or nation as a whole.
There were 14 Plenary Talks, 14 Sub-Plenary talks, 42 Technical presentations and two panel discussions. The panel discussions were focused and discussed “Transport Infrastructure Development for Sustainable Indian Cities: Bridging the Gap between the Research and Practices” and “Transportation infrastructure Projects – Economic and Financial Viability and Cost Spillovers”. The topics of discussion ranged from design, quality assurance, user and property safety, big data handling, demand projections, new construction practices and consulting in Transportation Infrastructure Projects to state-of-the-art practices including various financial policies e.g. Spillover Effects, Public Private Partnership (PPP), contract modalities, etc. The case studies from academia provided insights of the contributions made by them for the successful implementation of the projects on which consultation was sought by the Project Implementation Agencies (PIAs). The outcome expected of this conference is the higher interaction between industry and academia in the future.
The most eminent speakers were Prof. Naoyuki Yoshino, Dean, Asian Development Bank Institute, Tokyo, Japan; Prof. Roger Vickerman, Emeritus Professor of European Economics, University of Kent, UK; Prof. P K Sikdar, President, Intercontinental Consultants and Technocrats Pvt Ltd.; Prof. S L Dhingra and Prof. K V Krishna Rao, IIT Bombay; Prof. A Veeraragavan, IIT Madras; Prof. G Raghuram, Director, IIM Bangalore; Mr. Shelleyandra Kapil, Dean, Indian Railways Institute of Transport Management, Lucknow, U.P.; Mr. S K Gangwar, Member Technical, Inland Waterways Authority of India; Prof. Satish Ukkusuri, Purdue University; Prof. Srinivas S. Pulugurtha, University of North Carolina at Charlotte; Prof. Anuj Sharma, Iowa State University, USA; SH. Prithvi Kandhal, Associate Director Emeritus, National Center for Asphalt Technology, Auburn University, Alabama, USA as well as several distinguished academicians and practitioners from India and abroad. Important presentations from organisations like Institute for Transport and Development Policies (ITDP), World Resource Institute (WRI), Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI), Indian Railways, Uttarakhand PWD, AFCONS Infrastructure, NATRiP, CSIR-CRRI, etc. were also made. Among other dignitaries, Mr Achal Khare, Managing Director, National High Speed Rail Corporation Limited and Advisor Infrastructure, Ministry of Railways, Govt. of India; Ms Niyati Tandon, Associate Vice President, Government and Transaction Advisory Services, Ernst & Young, representatives from State PWDs, MPRRDA, Metro Rail Corporations, NATRIP, etc. were also present.
Prof. K Seetha Ram, Visiting professor at the Center for Spatial Information Science, University of Tokyo, Japan, & Senior Capacity Building and Training Specialist, ADB, & Special advisor to East Japan Railways Company (JR East) for India High-Speed Rail said “Transport and Infrastructure are the backbone of any country, and I am truly delighted to be at such platform where everyone can share their perspective and contribute in the development of Transportation Infrastructure. Organisation of such conferences will help our young generation to take up the critical challenges we face in Transportation Infrastructure related projects and lead our nation.”
Prof. Naoyuki Yoshino, Dean ADBI, Tokyo said “I congratulate the IIT Roorkee for arranging an excellent conference that brought a range of experts from around the world who discussed various dimensions for successfully planning, constructing, operating and maintaining transport infrastructure in India. The speakers in the sessions and Conference Panel discussion highlighted the issues and possible remedial measures that may infuse momentum in transportation infrastructure development in the country. Transport infrastructure such as metros, rails, roads, and airports in India have been generally well built. It is important to harvest the spillover effects of the infrastructure that generate additional tax revenues and property value in the neighborhood regions. It would be good to give back a portion of these incremental revenues to the original transport projects. If this can be done, private sector will be more inclined to invest long term to build more transport infrastructure projects that will be needed in the future in India. ”
Prof. Roger Vickerman, Emeritus Professor of European Economics, University of Kent, UK said “The conference is a very useful means of discussing a wide range of issues that relate to India while bringing perspectives from across the world. We can learn on various aspects from these and can implement on projects going on in India, particularly in the field of delivering of projects through for example Public Private Partnership methods.” He also added that “it was a good meeting and exchange of views and also opportunity to listen to the views of research student who are at early stage of their career and who are going to push things back and in that context it’s going to be a very useful conference”.
On the closure of this conference, Mr. Achal Khare, Managing Director, National High Speed Rail Corporation Limited said “Quick mobility in Transportation will lead to India’s Transformation and this conference is an effort to bridge the gap. Large infrastructure projects can be selected, planned, executed efficiently and effectively with the participation of both the Government and private sector. The Government is best equipped to identify the projects with the maximum benefits and spillovers in the larger interest of the country and also to finance long gestation projects, it arranges necessary regulatory modifications, land etc. The private sector, on the other hand, without the shackles of long procedures etc., can expedite decision making. They also bring the better execution practices from the market, and efficient and effective monitoring. Thus, Infrastructure development can be accelerated effectively with a judicious participation of both Government and private sector.”
