It is actually the manifestos of some of the regional parties that make for interesting reading.
The All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) takes a bold position on river-linking. It wants to "nationalise" rivers. Its manifesto says: "If all of India is to be prosperous, we must enact legislation to enable the harmonious inter-basin transfer of surplus waters. The AIADMK will take necessary action for the nationalisation and interlinking of rivers." The Trinamool Congress also has a special mention of "water transportation corridors for rivers". It then goes on to emphasise rural roads and promises to target 100 per cent rural connectivity. It welcomes public-private partnership (PPP). The Telangana Rashtra Samithi has promised to set up 10 thermal power stations, totalling 13,200 Mw to make the power-starved Telangana a power-surplus state.
True to tradition, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) or CPI (M) would like to kick the private sector out of India's infrastructure development. Its manifesto proposes "increasing public investment in infrastructure" and "reviewing of privatisation of infrastructure through the PPP route." It would like to stop privatising water resources, and reverse the trend towards private power production and distribution. It does not want further PPPs in domestic airports and is against foreign direct investment in the railways. It advocates making Coal India Ltd a unitary company and the only agency for mining coal and supplying to industries and customers. A Tory wag once famously remarked that the Labour Party's election manifesto was the longest suicide note in history. For the infrastructure sector, the CPI (M)'s infra death wish comes close.
Thankfully, the Aam Aadmi Party takes a more positive view of the private sector and takes the overarching position that: "Government should not be in the business of running businesses." It goes on then to talk of "the participation of private sector in infrastructure development."
The Congress manifesto starts with an embarrassing bloomer. It says: "We pledge to spend $1 trillion on upgrading India's infrastructure in the coming decade." Considering that its own government cleared a trillion-dollar investment for the 12th Plan period, ending 2017, the manifesto writer managed to halve the infrastructure ambition with one stroke of the pen. A clarification from the grand old party would indeed be welcome.
What are the fresh ideas in the Congress manifesto?
Well, it proposes the creation of a National Investment Facilitation Authority, a permanent body, headed by the prime minister, and supported by a full-time secretariat. Clearly, it wants to institutionalise the hastily put-together Cabinet Committee on Investment and the associated Project Monitoring Group. It offers up the National Environmental Appraisal and Monitoring Authority - a professional agency to conduct rigorous and time-bound environmental appraisals and clearances. Riding on the solar mission, it promises a National Wind Energy Mission. It takes a wild swipe at the railways with the suggestion that "all million-plus cities will be covered by High Speed Rail." And finally, on the contentious issue of PPPs, it offers a rather hesitant makeover: "We will support more transparent, competitive and better-regulated public private partnerships for both hard and soft infrastructure development."
Strangely, it shifts priority from re-energising the development of India's roads and highways to road safety. It says: "The Indian National Congress will launch a National Road Transport Safety Programme. Road Accidents will be halved within five years by strong willed political commitment to this Programme." With 130,000 deaths annually, India is the worst in the world. Thus, halving it in five years means that only 65,000 people will die on India's roads in 2019. Maybe this is as good a reason to vote for the Congress as any.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) manifesto "evolves" PPP to PPPP by adding "people" to the public-private partnership model - a smart addition to the infrastructure lexicon. Simultaneously, it pushes for an appropriate institutional framework by taking a clear position on giving greater autonomy to regulators.
There are two clear brushstrokes of BJP's infra promises - the project-oriented and the visionary.
The projectised deliverables include a clear thrust on rail with the diamond quadrilateral project for a high-speed network of bullet trains, and an agri-rail network to cater to perishable agricultural products such as milk and vegetable. Expediting the United Progressive Alliance's freight corridors and industrial corridors is a mature move. Connecting the north east, Jammu & Kashmir and border areas with world-class highways and rail is appropriate. The setting up of a National Land Use Authority to regulate and facilitate land management is a masterstroke. The identification of model towns for rolling out integrated waste management infrastructure is more than welcome.
The visionary aspects relate to the "Sagar Mala" initiative of modernising and building ports, the building of 100 new cities, and pushing the idea of Rurban, i.e. bringing urban amenities to rural areas - a concept originally floated by the then President A P J Abdul Kalam. Building an integrated public transport system, encompassing roads, rail and waterways is also part of the visioning.
It is interesting that the BJP underplays its bold Vajpayee-era river-linking ambitions with a half-hearted mention of "inter-linking of rivers based on feasibility." But the real disappointment is the energy section of the manifesto. Relegated to one-third of a page, its key assertion is that the BJP will come out with a responsible and comprehensive "National Energy Policy". This is clearly an inadequate response to the serious attention that this sector deserves.
Across all the political parties, the infrastructure agenda craftily dodges the really contentious issues. Here are 11 unaddressed issues:
- Are they, or are they not, for denationalising the coal sector?
- Are they for rapid private sector involvement in power distribution to clean up the embarrassing mess in transmission & distribution losses?
- Is there any clear move to have the 74th Amendment to the Constitution implemented, and urban governance completely reset?
- Is it time for some hard decisions on railways and ports following the well-recommended path of reform, restructuring, corporatising and then selectively Privatising?
- Are there solutions to breathe life back to PPPs by crafting confidence-building institutions such as a National PPP Commission, which would also take a credible and practical view on PPP Renegotiations?
- Do they have a stand on suggestions for a unified energy ministry and a unified transport ministry?
- Are there any clear thoughts on solving the asset-liability mismatch in infrastructure financing?
- Is there clarity on making governmental systems accountable for logjams in permissions and clearances that have brought project activity to a standstill and killed growth?
- Can there be a strategy for water sustainability including intra-basin transfers?
- Is there a strategy on energy security without which India will become an 83 per cent energy-import dependent nation by 2045?
- Is there a clear conceptual road map for the pricing and allocation of natural resources?
Clearly, some tough questions have to be faced with - not by all, but surely by the winner.
The writer is the Chairman of Feedback Infra. "vinayak.chatterjee@feedbackinfra.com"; Twitter: @Infra_VinayakCh
Disclaimer: These are personal views of the writer. They do not necessarily reflect the opinion of www.business-standard.com or the Business Standard newspaper
