P Chidambaram writes: How to build, how to grow

Indian Express

2 days ago

Watching the cricket matches between India and England, I was struck by the tag line of an advertisement by a leading cement company. It read, 'As India Builds, India Grows'. Absolutely correct. We must build — and we must know how to build — public goods such as roads, bridges, railways, airports, buildings for schools, colleges, hospitals and offices, etc. for growth.
Jawaharlal Nehru was a great builder. The criticism of Nehru-haters is not worth a tuppence. In 1947, the population was 340 million, and growing, and the literacy rate just 12 per cent. Under Nehru's 17-year stewardship, he built schools and colleges. He was the main driver of important institutions and projects like IITs, IIMs, steel plants, IOC, ONGC, NLC, HAL, BHEL, ISRO, Bhakra Nangal, Hirakud, Damodar Valley and countless others. The time was the nascent years post-Independence and the context was a country sparse on education, technology and skills. What Nehru built survives to this day because although India was short on many things it was abundant in people with integrity, native intelligence and dedication.
In the second century CE, Karikaalan, the Chola king, built the Kallanai (the Grand Anicut) on the river Kaveri. It is one of the oldest irrigation dams in the world, is built from unhewn interlocking stones without any binding material like mortar, and is in use today for irrigation and flood control. The Taj Mahal was completed in 1653. The building materials were red sandstone, marble, brick-in-lime mortar, and well foundations to ensure stability. South Block and North Block, the seat of the central government, were completed in 1931. They are magnificent and solid buildings. India has a 2,000-year tradition of constructing iconic structures.
India continues to build every day but there is a twist. Every citizen knows the difference in the quality and endurance between private construction and public construction. Building contractors are engaged for both types of construction but their behaviour is different. The processes are also different.
In this essay, I am concerned with public construction using public money. Private constructions vary in quality depending upon the choice of architect and contractor, and availability of funds. Public construction, especially of nationally important projects, do not suffer from constraints of land or money. But what do we see happening? Highways and new roads cave in; sewer lines burst flooding the road. On Ashoka Road, New Delhi, a sewer line burst and the road caved in for the third time in the last 18 months. Cars and buses fall into large depressions on the road. In Gwalior, 15 days after a Rs 18-crore road was opened to the public, it caved in. In Morbi, Gujarat, 141 people were killed when a bridge collapsed four days after it was ostensibly repaired and re-opened to the public; it was found that an unqualified company had 'repaired and restored' the bridge using sub-standard material. In Bihar, no one is surprised when bridges collapse shortly after, or even during, construction; one bridge fell three times. In June, people of Aishbagh, Bhopal discovered to their horror that a 648-metre bridge that had been constructed after seven years of bickering between the Railways and the PWD had a 90-degree turn!
There are many reasons for such colossal waste of time and money. The first reason is total lack of accountability. The prevailing rule seems to be 'that since many persons are responsible for a disastrous project, eventually no person is held accountable'. A long history of group immunity has metamorphosed into group impunity.
Another reason is the process. The lowest price bid is usually selected as the winning bid. Departure from the lowest-priced bid invites questions and, often, an inquiry; so why depart? The winner uses sub-standard material and takes liberty with the approved plans in order to make money. In many tenders, the bidders collude among themselves to allow a contractor to quote a winning price 'above the estimate'. The winner uses the money 'above the estimate' to pay bribes.
The design, drawings and estimates are prepared, and supervised, by poorly qualified persons. The senior officers (who have climbed the ladder) are not abreast with improvements in design and materials, advanced construction technology and machinery, and management practices that save labour, money and time.
A major reason is political corruption. There is competition among ministers for so-called 'lucrative' portfolios. There is a 'rate card' in many states. Some departments/agencies are notorious for deplorable execution of projects: PWDs are at the top. DDA and equivalent bodies that build low-cost housing (in reality, concrete slums) are near the top. Highways and Railways are not far behind.
It is a Gordian knot that cannot be unknotted. It has to be cut. That means phasing out the public agencies that 'build' public goods. Past efforts to 'reform' the system have failed and will, if attempted again, fail again. On the contrary, privatisation and healthy competition have improved the quality of public goods in telecommunications, distribution of electricity, transportation, mining, and oil exploration.
That is the way to go forward in public construction. In the short term, there will be an increase in costs. Cartels will be formed. Weaknesses will emerge. We must make corrections and keep faith in the new path — private enterprise to build public goods amidst genuine, healthy competition.