There is a need to make a realistic assessment of gap in infrastructure — planned and achieved. They can be further divided into financial and physical. Based on the gap, we could ensure the public-funded projects are backed financially. Then on the private side, look at why the risk appetite is so low — be it investors, developers or bankers.
No project should be bid out till all clearances and land acquisitions are in place. Ensure that the monitoring mechanism is planned carefully, realistically and honestly. And statistics is collected and reflected ground up on the infrastructure side.
Just like we have numbers on IIP and GDP, there should be data collection right from village panchayat level on projects completed, which are measured from commissioning perspective. For instance, there should be data on projects that have been commissioned — these many sewage treatment or water supply plants, these many km of roads or railway infrastructure built.
So, there is a need to measure infrastructure, backed by various parameters, including safety, that can be offered for public service. The Budget should speak about expenditure and commissioning related target.
There was a PPP institute — 3P India — spoken about, which is yet to start. There were recommendations of the Kelkar committee, specifically on dispute resolution which have not yet been implemented.
There must be a quarterly report card, based on robust project commissioning and statistics. Budget should not be a voodoo of numbers that a common man cannot understand. Let the financials be summarised in few pages, projects targeted in current year, finished in last year, and finally, a few pages on the tax related notifications — many of which are done through the year.
(As told to Mamuni Das)