Road to progress: A promising break from poor execution of public projects

In a country where delays and poor project implementation have long been the norm, the Eastern Peripheral Expressway (EPE) that Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated over the weekend offers an encouraging symbol of the art of the possible against formidable odds. Conceived of in 2006, together with a western expressway to decongest the National Capital Region and offer its denizens relief from dangerous levels of pollution, the proposal appeared to be headed the way of all major projects in India — from the Mumbai Sea Link to the coastal roads project — with glitches over land acquisition stalling or delaying proceedings. Even accounting for Road and Highway Minister Nitin Gadkari’s penchant for overstating his ministry’s achievements, the 135-km EPE represents a noteworthy milestone on his watch. It was completed in about two-and-a-half years from the time Mr Modi laid the foundation stone in November 2015 (the National Highways Authority of India claims the actual time taken was 500 working days). This time period just for constructing a road can be considered commendable in a country where timelessness is accepted as a temporal working norm rather than an abstract philosophical value. The fact that the construction included novel challenges in terms of embedding such new features as solar-powered lighting, an automated traffic management system, rainwater harvesting facilities, drip irrigation, fountains, replicas of India’s key monuments and a rail overbridge enhances the implementation record. Critically, the land acquisition problems were approached with practical briskness, with reluctant land-holders being offered generous terms above and beyond the minimum mandated by law — no surprise, this activity alone absorbed Rs 60 billion of the Rs 110-billion project cost. The EPE adds some degree of observable veracity to the road ministry’s assertion highlighted in this year's Budget, that it has constructed 9,000 km of national highways in 2017-18, representing a record 28 km a day, more than double the achievement of the previous regime. 

It is important, however, that the EPE is not regarded as a one-off showcase — much of its success was attributed to the close monitoring by Mr Gadkari —and that this implementation proficiency is transferred to other projects as part of a new standard operating procedure. For instance, almost 70 per cent of the 82-km six-lane Delhi-Meerut highway, the first phase (8.36 km) of which the prime minister inaugurated on the same day as the EPE, is still to be implemented, and Mr Gadkari has set an extremely challenging March 2019 deadline for completion, which significantly raises the bar for success.  The demonstration effect of fast and efficient implementation of roads and highways has a value that outlasts most other policies to boost economic growth. As Europe, Japan, Korea and the US have shown, high-level road connectivity is central to the creation of robust supply chains that enhance economic activity. In that context, the National Democratic Alliance’s ambitious Bharatmala Pariyojana project to provide seamless road connectivity to interior and backward areas and borders could well benefit from the efficiencies that attended the EPE. Indeed, at an estimated cost of Rs 5.35 trillion for the 35,000-km first phase, the Bharatmala project offers a challenging test case for the replicability of project implementation capabilities that the EPE has shown is possible.