The PM GatiShakti initiative is revolutionising India’s infrastructure by integrating digital planning tools to expedite project completion and improve multimodal connectivity According to the Secretary of the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), Amardeep Singh Bhatia, as many as 208 big-ticket infrastructure projects including roads (101), railways (73), urban development (12) and oil and gas (4) worth Rs 1539,000 crore have been recommended for approval under the PM GatiShakti initiative so far. These projects have been recommended by an inter-ministerial group known as the Network Planning Group (NPG) constituted under the PM GatiShakti National Master Plan (NMP). Launched in October 2021, the PM Gati Shakti NMP is a transformative Rs 100 lakh crore initiative aimed at revolutionising the...
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Category: Infrastructure
Water crisis in Delhi is entirely man-made
The ruthless exploitation of natural endowments and that too when resources are being put to misuse is unconscionable The gravity of water crisis facing Delhiites has forced the Delhi government to approach the Supreme Court (SC) seeking its intervention to direct neighboring states Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, and Himachal Pradesh (HP) to provide additional raw water supply to the national capital. Initially, the SC directed HP to release 137 cusecs of raw water which translates to 70 million gallons per day (MGD) of more water for the city. It also asked Haryana to make arrangements for ensuring its free flow to Delhi. But, now with HP claiming that it can’t release more than what it is already giving (70 MGD), the...
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Forced scrappage of a fit vehicle is arbitrary
For vehicle scrappage, incentive and not force should be the way, as people with limited income may suffer In an unprecedented order delivered in 2014, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) had prohibited petrol vehicles older than 15 years and diesel vehicles older than 10-year from plying in the National Capital Region (NCR). The order was upheld by the Supreme Court (SC) in its pronouncement on October 29, 2018. As for compliance, eight years after the NGT order and four years after SC validation, nearly 4,000,000 such vehicles continue to ply on the roads of the national capital. These include 500,000 diesel-run vehicles and 3,500,000 petrol-run. The transport authorities have reportedly swung into action impounding around 60 such vehicles every day...
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2022-23 budget – avoid a debt trap
The Union Budget for 2022-23 provides for capital expenditure of Rs 750,000 crore which is a jump of over 35 percent from the budget estimate (BE) of Rs 554,000 crore for 2021-22 (revised estimate (RE) for the current year is Rs 604,000 crore which is more or less close to the BE when we exclude Rs 50,000 crore given to Air India Asset Holding Company Limited AIAHCL where the debt of now divested Air India resides). Considering that the BE for current year was 26 percent higher than the RE of Rs 439,000 crore during 2020-21, this sounds impressive. However, when seen in juxtaposition with over Rs 100,00,000 crore investment needed to build infrastructure over five years – for catapulting...
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Asset monetisation: Will it take off?
The biggest bottleneck is the cumbersome procedures involved in striking such deals and the accompanying bureaucratic red tape In her maiden budget presented to Parliament on in 2019, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman laid a roadmap for catapulting the Indian economy to $5 trillion by 2024-25, its most crucial component being investment in infrastructure to the tune of a mammoth Rs 100,00,000 crore ($1.4 trillion) over a period of five years. Thirty-nine per cent each of this amount was to come from the Centre and States and the balance from the private sector. The Centre’s contribution works out to around Rs 40,00,000 crore over five years or Rs 800,000 crore per annum. Against this, the revised estimate (RE) for capital expenditure...
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Asset monetization – will it take off
In her maiden budget presented to Parliament on July 5, 2019, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman laid a roadmap for catapulting the Indian economy to $5 trillion by 2024-25, its most crucial component being investment in infrastructure to the tune of a mammoth Rs 100,00,000 crore (US$1.4 trillion) over a period of five years (read: 2020-21 to 2024-25). As for funding, 39% of this amount was to come from the Union Government and States each and the balance 22% from the private sector. The Centre’s contribution at 39% works out to around Rs 40,00,000 crore over 5 years or Rs 800,000 crore per annum. Against this, the revised estimate (RE) for capital expenditure during 2020-21 was Rs 439,000 crore. Even assuming...
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Shun duopoly in telecom industry
The real problems are the policies and regulatory environment that have favoured one player even while targeting others Telecom operators including Airtel, Vodafone Idea or Vi and Reliance Jio have submitted a charter of demands to the Centre. They primarily relate to licence fees: reducing the license fee from three per cent of adjusted gross revenue (AGR) to one per cent, USOF (Universal Service Obligation Fund) contribution from five per cent of AGR to one per cent, spectrum usage charge (SUC) from 3-6 per cent (depending on when the operator acquired spectrum in respective bands) to a uniform three per cent for all operators, A demand is also to extend the tenure of leased spectrum to operators from 20 years...
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Telecom industry – shun duopoly
In a letter addressed to the department of telecommunication (DoT), the telecom operators including the three major players viz. Airtel, Vodafone Idea or Vi and Reliance Jio have submitted a charter of demands. These include:- (i) reduce the license fee from 3% of adjusted gross revenue (AGR) to 1%, USOF (Universal Service Obligation Fund) contribution from 5% of AGR to 1%, spectrum usage charge (SUC) from 3-6% (depending on when the operator acquired spectrum in respective bands) to a uniform 3% for all operators; (ii) extend the tenure of leased spectrum to operators from 20 years to 40 years; (iii) moratorium of 7-10 years for payments (in addition to 2 years already given); (iv) reduce interest rate on all outstanding...
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Banning old vehicles – a retrograde order
On March 18, 2021, Union Minister for road, transport and highways Nitin Gadkari announced a ‘voluntary’ vehicle scrappage policy to (i) mitigate vehicular pollution and (ii) more than double the turnover of Indian automobile industry from the present Rs 450,000 crore to Rs 1000,000 crore in a few years. At present, there are 5100,000 vehicles which are older than 20 years, 3400,000 vehicles more than 15 years old but < 20 years and 1700,000 > 15 years, but without renewed fitness certificate. The policy architecture is founded on two pillars viz. incentivize their scrapping and dis-incentivize hanging on to them. The owner going for scrap will get 4-6% of ex-showroom price of the new vehicle as compensation; 5% discount on...
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Covid-19 vaccine pricing: Modi has got it wrong
The Centre should make vaccination ‘free for all’ and conduct centralised purchases from the manufacturers Under the ‘Liberalised Pricing and Accelerated National Covid-19 Vaccination Strategy’ (LPANCVS), which kicked off on May 1, the Centre has plans to vaccinate all adults aged 18 and above — about a billion people. Given the mammoth task ahead, the vaccine pricing strategy has to be guided by two overarching considerations, namely (i) People should have absolutely no hesitation whatsoever in coming forward to get vaccinated, which, among other things, requires that this be done ‘free of charge’; and (ii) Manufacturers and suppliers should be willing to arrange for supplies of at least two billion doses within the shortest possible time frame, say, not extending...
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