It is not a leap of faith, but concerted planning and implementation that have seen India emerge as an infrastructural superpower. There’s more on the anvil.

Rajiv Narayan

It is inappropriate to start a column with a personal vignette, but I am nonetheless doing so, for I spent the last 15 days visiting various hospitals in and around Delhi-NCR trying to find out what was wrong with my missus (apart from her temperament and countenance). Thankfully, she turned out to be fine physically, but through this exasperating process, I found things that were blissful, charming, and beautiful. The roads, hospitals, schools, playgrounds, lawns, and even the seaports and airports that surround us today are but a cheerful thing, completely distant from what surrounded us while I was growing up. I thus decided to do some research on what has changed. It was quite an invigorating experience.

As have been my travels through most of India by road, for I am fortunate enough to have two lovely cats that cannot be left alone at home. Through these travel drives with meows resounding in my ears, I realized that India’s freeways and highways are now amongst the best in the world, as are our farmlands, infrastructural paraphernalia, and the way they have been designed and developed. Va-va-voom they are—look at the roads in Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, the Ghats, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, and Uttar Pradesh (I can’t name all states, right?). How did this happen and when? Well, it happened in the last six to eight years, when infrastructure development was taken so seriously that we built six-lane highways right across the nation and that development is continuing and growing.

Fuelling economic growth

As a soliloquy, this move by the Government is catalyzing growth that shall be enjoyed by generations to come, for our infrastructure will match that of any developed country—be it transportation networks, roads, railways, ports, and airports. The growth rate envisaged by the Indian Government is 8 percent annually, an indubitably adorning figure. Over the last many years, the Central Government has been fighting criticism for its expenditure on these projects, but we also need to look at the outcome and output.

For instance, the Gati Shakti programme, which has the vision to bring under one umbrella all major mobility infrastructure projects of various ministries and state governments such as Bharatmala (Roads & Highways), Sagarmala (String of Ports), Inland Waterways, Dry/Land Ports and Ude Desh ka Aam Nagrik (UDAN) and a slew of regional airports enabling air travel access to a common man. We have already made headways in building National Highways connecting passenger, trade, and freight points. Imagine this—over 13,800 km of highway construction has been envisaged with an outlay of Rs 2.81 lakh crore in 2023-24, up 33 percent from a year ago.

I spoke to a friend recently, who flew in the North-East on an Air Alliance flight from a small airport in Meghalaya to Assam for Rs 800, cheaper than a bus ticket on the same route. This is astounding and these airports are being expanded and are world-class. Much is said about the negative of some such projects, but the results on the ground are felt only by the people who live there and experience their dreams coming true.

Some continue to crib

Let them. In a country with 140 crore people, vested interests and certain elements will rave and rant, trying to create a shindig and all-round consternation. For these people, I have only one piece of indulgence and advice—that they try to run a diverse country with 1.4 billion people and find acceptance or favourable reception everywhere. It is not possible.

I say this because building railway lines to high-altitude areas in Ladakh, a railroad tunnel beneath the mighty Brahmaputra, the Arunachal Frontier Highway, and the Mumbai-Trans-Harbour Link Bridge, are audacious projects that have been considered and approved. We also have numerous hydroelectric dams, power projects, river navigation projects, solar power hubs, and metro rails projects underway across the country. Besides, there are already 12 major ports and over 200 non-major ports underway in the country, along our 7,500-km long coastline. The Sagarmala Project is ambitious too, intended to reduce costs of trade through a string of ports across the coastline with minimal infrastructure investment and is expected to be completed ahead of independent India turning 100.

The Indian Government is also hoping and planning to bring down the cost of logistics in the economy from an estimated 14 to 10 percent by adopting advanced mobility technologies, primarily to improve our competitive edge in manufacturing and trade, and to create better supply chains.

Steeped in vigilance

To ensure the successful and expected delivery of quality infrastructure that offers social and economic value without compromising on health, safety, environment, sustainability, and governance benchmarks, risks are being assessed and monitored, and corrective actions are being taken. For this, the technical and quality parameters of projects are studied well before projects are approved.

As many as 131 airports are in operation in India, with 29 of these being international, 92 domestic, and 10 Customs airports, while the Government has granted approvals to 21 more Greenfield airports. Look at the advanced economies that are facing threats to their pace of growth. We have already upped the ante by announcing an outlay of Rs 10 lakh crore for infrastructure, 3.3 percent of our Gross Domestic Product. This is supplemented by loans provided to states amounting to Rs 1.3 lakh crore for their infrastructure investment.

I accept that India’s project execution pace has improved during the last couple of decades, though recent rail and road accidents that occurred recently have brought into focus some lapses that need to be corrected. We have legacy issues like land acquisition, funding, and lack of the latest technologies that are haunting and daunting. People also speak of the mayhem in Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, as well as the floods that engulfed parts of North India. All I can say is that while the Government may try its best, it can neither confront and control nor predict and prevent natural disasters. The entire Global Village has to come together and form a coalition that works towards these larger goals. Till such a time as this sublime yet tough touch happens, we shall have to strive to provide the best that we can for our people. The show has to go on despite the belligerent arbitrage.

The writer is a veteran journalist and communications specialist.