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The renewed emphasis on infrastructure by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is timely. In the last ten years, the total public and private investment in infrastructure has fallen from 5.4 per cent to 3.7 per cent of GDP. While public investment declined, both due to fiscal constraints and policy changes, increased private investment did not step in sufficiently and gaps in the regulatory framework remained.

The infrastructure policy just announced by the PM consists of three elements: resist the urge to start big new schemes, emphasise implementation of existing ones and improve the regulatory structure in power, roads and ports. The emphasis on the implementation of existing infrastructure projects is a step in the right direction. The largest single highway project in the world, the National Highway Development Project NHDP, is still underway. It consists of the Golden Quadrilateral GQ of 5,846 km, connecting the four metros of Chennai, Delhi, Kolkata and Mumbai, and the North-South, East-West Corridors connecting Srinagar to Kanyakumari and Silchar to Porbandar. The Pradhan Mantri Bharat Jodo Pariyojna aims to link up major cities to the NHDP highways. Ten major ports are to be connected to the national highways with four-lane roads adding 356 km to existing roads. In addition, there is the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojna that envisages the construction of a rural road network. Flagged off by the NDA, it was hoped that it would be completed in record time. However, as a recent Express report has highlighted, delays are dogging all these projects. Currently, 3,709 km of the NHDP is under construction. The story is the same in the other projects too. Take, for instance, ports: out of the projects underway, 11 private or captive projects have been completed, while work is on in another 25 with a capacity addition of 85 million tons per annum.

There may be little political mileage in the tedious process of putting NDA8217;s projects back on track, but the economy and the ordinary citizen will certainly benefit from it. In any case, such a step would send out the welcome signal that planning for the nation8217;s infrastructure will not be hobbled by partisan politics.