India’s Crawling Infrastructure Projects

The ideal way to avert economic slowdown is to invest in infrastructure projects. Since Independence, India has made several investments in the infrastructure sector with the aim to take the country forward. But inordinate delays in completion of these projects have robbed India of the benefits of development. As a result, the fruits of development have never reached certain sections of the populace. At the same time GDP growth rate has never reflected the benefits of the huge investments in infrastructure and other developmental projects. As per statistics, 483 infrastructural development projects have not been completed within the stipulated time frame and the delays have resulted in the extra burden of INR  4.43 lakh crore on the exchequer. Clearly, India is in no position to manage such a huge overrun of costs. This enormous financial burden is preventing India from being considered as one of the world’s developed nations.

Lack of coordination amongst various government authorities is considered as the main reason for the delay in completion of the developmental projects. In a recent seminar, organised by a university in Delhi, several speakers lamented over the fact that it takes at least five years to get necessary clearance for any development projects in India. They argued that the delay prevents timely implementation of development projects in the country. As a matter of fact, more often than not, it has been found that a project is stalled indefinitely for want of necessary clearances as two government departments are not on the same wavelength about the proposed development. There are examples galore from all over the country about extraordinary delays in completion of development projects, which have reduced the word ‘development’ to a farce.

So, the need of the hour is to make a coordinated effort to speed up all infrastructure projects and prevent any cost overrun in-order to experience the real value of development. Roads, bridges, hospitals and vocational training institutes, etc. should be built in a time bound manner as proper investment facilities will always attract investment. At present, the main task in our hands is to revive the Indian economy which contracted nearly 25 per cent due to Covid-19 pandemic. Though the economy is showing signs of a turn around, uninterrupted investment flow is required to bring the economy back to shape. To achieve the goal, the Central Government recently launched the ambitious Gati Shakti National Master Plan wherein 16 central ministries will combine together to ensure the progress of various developmental projects. As per preliminary estimates, the combined effort will be able to save nearly INR 20 lakh crore which will aid the government in funding various welfare projects kick-started to negate the adverse effects of the pandemic on the economy. Now the challenge is to turn the estimate into reality. Otherwise, the project will simply be another addition to the long list of failed projects initiated by the Government of India.