What makes success succeed

Raisina Hill

A couple of years ago, when the construction work for the Metro project had begun, everybody in Delhi had mentally geared up to face major traffic problems and project delays. The memory of the underground metro project in Kolkata, which played havoc with the city's traffic and took more than 16 years to complete, was fresh in their minds.

But the Metro project authorities in Delhi had a different game plan. They took every care that there was least traffic dislocation. They employed traffic assistants to guide bus drivers and motorists through diversions caused by the digging up of roads.

New traffic signages were installed to give directions to people. Any work that could disrupt the flow of traffic was done during night and the road reopened for normal flow during day. Water was regularly sprinkled around the project site so that the air remained relatively clean and dust-free.

What's more, there were no project implementation delays. The first stretch of about 8 km between Shahadra and Tis Hazari was thrown open for regular service in 2002 as per schedule. This year, another 4 km were added.

And by the end of next year, two more stretches would be completed. The entire first phase, including the underground section from Delhi University to Connaught Place, would be completed by the end of 2005.

Those who have used the Delhi Metro service are impressed with its efficiency. More and more people are using the service. The Delhi Metro project has also begun showing a healthy growth in traffic revenue numbers.

Hopefully, the tariffs would be kept at levels to allow operators earn a decent return on the investments made. There were fears earlier that the project may have to rely primarily on its revenue from real estate development. Such fears have now been dispelled.

Today, the Delhi Chief Minister, Shiela Dikshit, cites Delhi Metro as an example of how an organisation can function efficiently and effectively in spite of remaining within the government system. Much of the credit for making Delhi Metro a success story should go to its managing director, E Sreedharan.

Indeed, without Sreedharan's leadership and commitment to the project schedule, the Delhi Metro would not have been able to achieve the milestones that it has in the past couple of years.

But in a country where efficient and result-oriented managers seem to be in short supply, such rare and isolated success stories like that of Delhi Metro do give rise to a new set of problems. For instance, every state government now wants Sreedharan to come and help it set up a mass rapid transport system. Even if Sreedharan may want to help out these states, it is physically not possible for one person to oversee so many transport projects.

The challenge for the government, therefore, is to facilitate a system that can periodically throw up more managers like E Sreedharan, who will stay committed to project schedules, and to achieving efficiency goals.

The system can throw up such managers only when managers know that they can function independently and that they will be judged by the yardstick of their performance alone. The failure to create such a system will mean over-dependence on a few managers.

Seven years from now, Delhi will be hosting a mega sports event "" the 2010 Commonwealth Games. The Ninth Asian Games held in Delhi in 1982 saw in its wake the construction of new stadia and as many as seven flyovers in the Capital. The construction work then had paid little attention to minimising inconvenience to the people of the city.

With the Delhi Metro project having raised the expectation levels, the challenge for the Delhi government is daunting. The Capital city's traffic is already choked. To facilitate the construction of new roads, transport networks and stadia, one Sreedharan is clearly not enough. We need many more Sreedharans, who implement major infrastructure projects around the Capital to minimise the people's inconvenience and yet make the Commonwealth Games a grand success.

The good news is that it is possible to replicate the work standards set by the Delhi Metro project authorities. All you need is a government that gives the right degree of functional freedom that all capable project managers would demand and then expect them to remain accountable to targets. If Sreedharan can do it in Delhi Metro, why not others?