It is rapidly becoming clear that while building infrastructure is a major focus for this government, the principles underlying its policy push for the sector are yet to become flawless or consistent. For example, it has been reported that the road transport minister, Nitin Gadkari, has signalled his intent for the National Highways Authority of India, or NHAI, to be reduced in independence. The head of the NHAI, he has reportedly suggested, should be more directly supervised by the road transport secretary. Similar wing-clipping is in store for the board of the apex highway-builder. In other words, the corporatisation of the Centre's premier road-builder is being reversed, even at a time when more and more investment is going to flow through the authority. But is the structure of the NHAI at the top really the problem? And if so, is less independence the answer?
Corporatisation of the NHAI was one of the achievements of the last National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government. Road-building was given firm financial and institutional footing. Is that being reversed? It is worth noting that, meanwhile, this government has failed to speed up matters on the execution side of road-building. Although many more projects were awarded in the NDA's first eight months in office than in the equivalent months under the previous government, far fewer kilometres saw work start between June 2014 and January 2015 than in the equivalent period under the previous government. Thus, there are open questions about the ability to implement what is decided at the higher levels. Given the approvals process is going strong, it does not seem immediately likely that the bottleneck lies at the level of the board or the chairman. Surely, the structure of the authority is what needs addressing. But there does not seem to be any careful thinking about that.
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What is being shown up is that the Modi government is struggling to evolve a rational and consistent approach to the building of India's infrastructure. This is unfortunate, given that there is not much time to put the processes in motion. It is also puzzling, given that in both these sectors, the previous exemplars and the road map reports already exist.
Correction
The editorial erroneously suggested that the Bibek Debroy committee on the railways had finalised its recommendations for the government. However, the committee’s interim report will, in fact, not be submitted till early April.
The error is regretted.