The Security Challenge Hidden in India's Infrastructure Boom

The Indian economy is the fastest-growing economy globally. One of the crucial drivers of this prosperity has been the development of the country’s civil infrastructure. India’s infrastructure sector consists of power, bridges, dams, roads and highways, urban infrastructure projects etc. The current government has given utmost priority to ensuring that India’s infrastructure grows at the same pace as its economy and transforms India into a developed nation by 2047.

In January alone, India launched 5 major infrastructure projects that promise to bring transformational change to India’s urban infrastructure. Plans like the Sagarmala Project are an extensive initiative aimed at improving India's maritime infrastructure and developing its coastline. The Mumbai- Ahmedabad high-speed rail project, new international airports such as the Navi Mumbai International Airport, and the DIMC corridor are some major projects set to take civil infrastructure to new heights.

That apart, we are witnessing extensive investment in infrastructure development from multilateral or bilateral financial institutions, be they private, domestic, or foreign entities. The Japanese government has committed an investment of 232.209 billion yen (about Rs 12,800 crore) for nine projects related to various sectors in India.

Along with all these major developments, the country is also making a sustained investment in power projects to boost the use of renewable energy. The government recently announced their largest ever hydropower project and approved an investment of 319 billion rupees ($3.9 billion) for the 2,880-megawatt Dibang project in Arunachal Pradesh, state-run hydropower producer NHPC Ltd.

The security challenge of India’s infrastructure projects

India plans to spend over 1.4 trillion over the next five years on infrastructure. With our GDP standing at approximately 3 trillion, 10% of the GDP of the country is devoted to infrastructure spending throughout this period.

However, infrastructure projects need to be secure and optimized to prevent problems that lead to delays and losses.

Managing the security of these projects comes with its share of challenges like unmanned deserted and remote locations, long project durations, andfickle weather conditions. Ensuring that the security and safety of the equipment, resources, and personnel are not compromised can be difficult.

We have all read news about the theft of gas pipeline materials at the Veerannapalya Metro station on the Airport Line in Bengaluru. The incident caused a halt in the construction work and led to significant financial losses for the contractors. Moreover, it endangered the security personnel who were responsible for the site. The security guards who were on duty during the night were attacked, and the materials were taken from them. Additionally, the nails that were used to fasten the barricades were also removed, which posed a serious threat to public safety.

In another news, two suspects were arrested for stealing 2 tonnes of construction materials for a bridge on NH-48 in Gurugram. The stolen materials included 2 tonnes of construction materials for a bridge on NH-48 in Gurugram and were stolen from the site.

The theft of tools and equipment also causes dents in the bottom line adds to the losses and can even halt the progress of a project.

India is also planning to expand its power grid and move towards a smart grid infrastructure. However, this sector too has its share of challenges with power theft. Reports show how power theft costs the GDP of the country and that power theft is rampant not only in rural places but also in cities and across industrial units.

Incidents of such thefts are growing across India. The nation needs to focus on technological innovation to reduce incidents and assume a proactive security stand. However, assuring the security of the civil infrastructure is extremely complex because of:

• Sites are vast and open areas and have limited security measures
• Sites are often in remote areas and on the outskirts of the city with little surveillance
• The sites are busy with high footfall and the lack of supervision provides the opportunity for theft
• Copper, steel, and aluminium used in infrastructure projects can fetch high prices in the black market and can be an attractive target for thievesat rest or even during transit on highways.

These places might be hard to secure but with losses running in crores, robust and flexible security solutions that address the unique challenges of the operational environments of the sites becomes important and urgent.

Addressing the security challenge

Intrusion detection and surveillance systems powered by modern-day technology are now crucial investments that improve the security of infrastructure sites. These security solutions need to:

• Power mission-critical communication services and offer highly cost-effective ways to interconnect radio systems and operators together, with greater reliability, and existing radio communication networks. These solutions should also operate on slow data networks and be mobile device-friendly.
• Detect intrusion events like climbing, cutting, or lifting the fence fabric, tunnelling, tampering with data communication lines, etc around perimeters.
• Offer detection accuracy and use technologies like AI to discriminate between intrusion, alarms, and other disturbances. These systems also must possess the ability to discriminate and classify the events and get further verifications by offering ONIV-compliant video support. This becomes invaluable for sites such as power grids, airport infrastructure developments, etc.
• Be robust and low maintenance and be capable of providing accurate intrusion information despite poor/ extreme weather conditions. These solutions need to pinpoint intrusion locations accurately and provide actionable information to isolate problems or incidents across the physical network.
• Complement the security system with an intelligent command and control system that allows them to meet security objectives based on threat levels of the location. These systems must use a multi-layer approach and ensure that the central monitoring system is equipped with Deep Learning and discernment algorithms to analyse inputs from each of the sensors in the security ecosystem to help with critical decisions.

To bring it together

India's infrastructure development requires advanced security solutions that are not only backed by sophisticated technology but also developed with industry expertise. These solutions should be specifically designed to tackle challenges encountered in civil infrastructure projects and high-security areas like airport construction sites.

While it may not be practical to secure every inch of infrastructure projects, it is crucial to establish an efficient security ecosystem that offers 24/7 protection to strategically important sites. A strong security infrastructure that utilizes technologies such as sensors, OFC, LiDAR, video surveillance, and an intelligent command and control system can significantly enhance the existing security standards of this sector. Connect with us to craft a comprehensive security strategy for your infrastructure project.

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