The economist, drawing parallel with New York City, said, "Delhi comes to a halt when the DMRC stops just like the NYC which also halts when the Subway (NYC metro) stops."
"The DMRC's journey is astonishing. And, in these decades, it has grown from 0 km to 213 km. It's an incredible feat. It is like an island of excellence, sort of a developed country island within a developing country. And, gives one a great hope," he said, addressing a gathering to mark the 22nd Foundation Day of Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) at Metro Bhawan here.
"A country that I have most closely analysed is India, pretty much post-independence development process of the country. And, often you get very pessimistic during this journey. From 1980s I used to very pessimistic...Will India be able to do what some of the developing countries like South Korea, Taiwan or China have," he said.
Panagariya said the liberalisation policy of the then Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao in 1991 that opened up the economy was his point of transition from being pessimistic to being optimistic about India.
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After that "I had another phase of pessimism" about the road infrastructure and that was broken by the "Golden Quadrilateral project" of the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government, he said.
"And, the third one (pessimism) was about inter-city and intra-city transportation...We are building large cities ...With FSI rules...And, not everyone can live in the city, but because of work they need to travel. And, that is when DMRC broke my pessimism," Panagariya, author of 'India: The Emerging Giant', said.
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Asked whether the government should stick to its roadmap for fiscal consolidation, Panagariya said if there is no compelling reason then the Centre should simply stay course with the plan.
Referring to Niti Aayog's recommendations of listing some unlisted public sector units, the Niti Aayog vice-chairman said there is a decision underway on listing a large number of public sector units.
"I really think that the time is opportune and we cannot afford to lose more time on this because the large companies currently operative in China, in the labour intensive sectors are beginning to move out and before they move out to countries like Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar and Bangladesh, we have to make a move and bring them over here." he noted.