PM146;s road map

That the national highway project is stalled is no longer a matter of debate, unlike earlier when this government would contest statistics. But one has to wonder whether senior functionaries of this government have pondered the cost of the delay, never mind the arguments over contractual norms and inter-ministerial disputes over regulatory turf. The cost is this: since most project sanctions are getting delayed and since most projects have a gestation period of two to three years, the chance for this government to claim valid political credit for an immensely useful infrastructure programme is getting reduced. Elections are due in 2009. The current delays mean most of the road construction efforts won8217;t produce visible and usable results by the time the UPA seeks another mandate. Therefore, if the fight over the public-private partnership appraisal committee gets sorted out in the time frame bureaucrats and economic administrators are generally used to, it won8217;t help this government politically.

So it makes political sense, if nothing else, for the prime minister to step in and solve this infrastructure policy dispute. The fight seems ripe for intervention from the top for a solution that might make everyone equally unhappy but gets work going again. In India8217;s recent policy history, quite a few big disputes have had to be resolved this way. For example, it was after Manmohan Singh made his preference for a quick solution to the airport reform impasse known that the super-intricate nit-picking about the bidding process gave way to final awards. Just as it is possible to be too lax about bidding and contractual details, it is also possible to be too concerned about the smallest of details.

Political managers need to remember the huge positive fallouts once a big decision on big projects has been taken. The government8217;s decision not to delay airport reform not only impacted Delhi and Mumbai airports, it demonstrated a crucial political truth: that if vested interests hold up change that promises to deliver better services, the popular vote will be for the change. Good roads are even better political commodities than good airports. The UPA spent much of its early term hotly disputing what the NDA had achieved in road construction. Does it want to spend the later part of its term in an equally hot internal battle? Who will that help but the NDA?