Bidding goodbye

Two things the group of ministers (GoM) on airport modernisation — it is meeting today — must remember. First, we are building better airports, not another Taj Mahal. Second, there can be no end to logical quibbles and learned opinions on any issue. The inference from these two points is that GoM should close the book on Delhi and Mumbai airport bids. Fresh bids or an additional set of applicants are eminently avoidable because the delay is already scandalous. The performance of the country’s two main airports risks becoming a part of international folklore of Third World horror stories. The prime minister at least understands this very well. Just he has intervened recently, he must do so again so that the newly minted end-January deadline is not extended.

Dr Manmohan Singh must also be despairingly familiar with the broader lesson from the airport modernisation story: whenever the government attempts to do anything big, especially in infrastructure, there are serial foul-ups, but when the private sector embarks on similar projects, things happen quickly and efficiently. One reason for this is that there are hundred people with a thousand agendas around a big ticket government policy and those who look like losing out can always shout “scam”, knowing that wheels of decision making will then come to a grinding halt. Even more fun can be had if land acquisition is involved. Then projects can be stalled indefinitely, and probity can be the cover for settling political scores.

Thus the shocking lack of progress in NHAI’s highway project. Thus the policy mess over government counter-guarantees for private power projects —remember Enron? — from which the sector has still not really recovered. Thus the seven years spent wrangling on the Bangalore airport. Thus the enormous fuss over Air India and Indian Airlines acquiring new aircraft. In contrast, private sector players set up capital-guzzling projects like refineries with minimum fuss. Even start-up airlines buy aircraft quickly. Here’s wishing the GoM shows a bit of private sector alacrity today.