Project approvals will now go through more rigorous scrutiny to ensure cost & time overruns are minimal. By 2023, with nearly 80% of tenders awarded, cost of Bharatmala Phase-I doubled.
Only individual road corridors will be approved by Modi govt in 3rd term, it is learnt. Cabinet’s nod to 8 high-speed roads spanning 936 km is part of this new strategy.
Govt working to develop access-controlled high-speed corridors as part of Vision 2047, which will be the next phase of highway development after Bharatmala Pariyojana programme.
Highways sector also saw jump in allocation. Fifty airports, heliports, water aerodromes & advance landing grounds to be revived to improve regional air connectivity.
After dominating India’s crude imports since 2023, Russian supplies slowed amid US sanctions, but a 30-day ‘waiver’ amid West Asia tensions could now push flows back towards 2 mbpd.
Trump has ushered in the age of humiliation. His method is to push around America’s friends rudely and publicly. He knows none of them can afford to fight back.
Firstly, the consultants who prepare the Detailed Project Reports (DPR) must be held accountable. The DPRs for infrastructure projects provide wildly exaggerated figures. Figures and numbers are cooked up in favour of the project. Egregiously optimistic estimates, far removed from the realities of life, are made.
An example of this are the metro projects across cities. Except Kolkata and Delhi, none of rhe metro projects have crossed even 25% of the projected ridership volume.
It’s high time the agencies/consultants preparing the DPRs are held accountable and penalised.
Secondly, the land acquisition issue must be looked into. In every single infrastructure project, delays are primarily due to land acquisition issues. This leads to severe cost overruns. A political consensus must be arrived at to ensure swift and smooth procedures of land acquisition.
Investment in defence is guided by strategic considerations. However, road and rail, accounting for the bulk of government capital expenditure must pay for themselves, as commercial enterprises. Be able to service debt. Railways recently wanted 70,000 crores of loans to be converted into a grant, ie, written off.
Firstly, the consultants who prepare the Detailed Project Reports (DPR) must be held accountable. The DPRs for infrastructure projects provide wildly exaggerated figures. Figures and numbers are cooked up in favour of the project. Egregiously optimistic estimates, far removed from the realities of life, are made.
An example of this are the metro projects across cities. Except Kolkata and Delhi, none of rhe metro projects have crossed even 25% of the projected ridership volume.
It’s high time the agencies/consultants preparing the DPRs are held accountable and penalised.
Secondly, the land acquisition issue must be looked into. In every single infrastructure project, delays are primarily due to land acquisition issues. This leads to severe cost overruns. A political consensus must be arrived at to ensure swift and smooth procedures of land acquisition.
Investment in defence is guided by strategic considerations. However, road and rail, accounting for the bulk of government capital expenditure must pay for themselves, as commercial enterprises. Be able to service debt. Railways recently wanted 70,000 crores of loans to be converted into a grant, ie, written off.