Tackling Project Pendency: 10 Pending Projects Which The Modi Government Accelerated

10 per cent of project management is an idea while 90 per cent is its execution. Project management can be thought of as a tripod that will stand only when all its bases are secured. It is a triangle that has technology as one of its vertices, people as the other and the process as the third.

Ideation versus Implementation

One big question which arises with respect to project management is ‘who takes the credit? The thinker or the executor?’. If the 10-90 argument holds, then the executor is the real hero and even history agrees with this.

All the previous governments led by Congress and BJP can claim that the idea of Goods and Services Tax (GST) originated from them, but it was under the Modi government that GST actually got implemented. It was Modi’s negotiation skills that got all state finance ministers across parties on board and convinced them to finally implement the GST.

The Congress conceived Aadhar as a personal identification tool. But it was the Narendra Modi government that revolutionalised this idea and transformed it into a public service tool that can be used for social security purposes.

Tackling pendency of projects

It is not just the implementation of the above mentioned projects, but also about 10 other critical pending projects that have been addressed by this government. The table below lists out many projects that have been revived from the catacombs of redundancy.

Let us go through each of these projects in a little more detail.

1. OROP

One Rank One Pension Scheme aims to ensure that all veterans of similar rank and years of service, get the same pension, irrespective of the date of retirement. Two years after the historic Bangladesh war of 1971, the Indira Gandhi-led Congress government decided to reduce the salaries and pensions of armed forces by 20-40 per cent, terminating the existing One Rank One Pension scheme.

OROP was stalled by Congress led governments for more than 40 years, and it was only in July 2018 that its implementation was notified by the Modi government. It was this government which gave it wings and as announced by the Finance minister, allocated over Rs. 35000 crore for its quick implementation.

2. Salma Dam, Afghanistan

The Afghan-India Friendship Dam (AIFD), formerly named the Salma Dam, is a hydroelectric and irrigation project located on the Hari River in Chishti Sharif district of Herat province in western Afghanistan.

The construction of the dam was given to WAPCOS, an Indian government company in 1988. The project was revived by the Vajpayee government in 2002. After this, when the Congress government came to power, the project suffered delays and cost overruns.

When the NDA government assumed power, the project was again revived. Since this project is funded and constructed by the Government of India as a part of Indian aid, the Afghan cabinet renamed the Salma Dam to the Afghan-India Friendship Dam as a gesture of gratitude to strengthen relations between the two countries.

India has built over 200 schools and hosts 16,000 Afghan students annually. Definitely, the Afghan India Friendship Dam is a welcome gesture towards strengthening Indo-Afghan friendship. It is the hard work of 1500 Indian and Afghan engineers which will irrigate 75000 hectares of Afghan land.

The dam was inaugurated on 4 June 2016 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi along with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani.

3. Western Peripheral Expressway

The Western Peripheral Expressway is a 6 lane-135 km long expressway in Haryana, connecting Kundli to Palwal via Manesar. The highway project was introduced in order to decongest and reduce the pollution level in the national capital by diverting away the traffic whose final destination is not Delhi.

This project was launched more than twelve and a half years ago. The initial cost estimated for the same was nearly Rs 1200 crores. But due to delays, the cost exceeded three times the original budget for the project. The Western Peripheral Expressway was inaugurated by PM Modi on 19 November 2018. It is now open for public use.

4.  Bogibeel Bridge

The Bogibeel Bridge is a combined road and rail bridge over river Brahmaputra in Assam. It is the longest rail-cum-road bridge in India and the second longest in Asia. The bridge also serves as crucial route for Army supplies to strategic locations on the Indo-China border.

Former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda laid the foundation stone for the bridge back in January 1997. In 2002, Atal Bihari Vajpayee as the PM inaugurated the construction. After the 2004 elections, the Congress came to power and the project started missing several deadlines.

The delay resulted in cost escalation to Rs 5800 crore from the initial estimate of Rs 1767 crore.

After 21 years of wait, Rs 5,800 Crore and a string of controversies, Bogibeel Bridge was open to public use by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 25 December 2018.

5. Kota Chambal Bridge

The Kota Chambal Bridge is a 6-lane, cable-stayed bridge over the Chambal river in Kota, Rajasthan. The bridge is a part of the East–West Corridor of the Golden Quadrilateral Project of the National Highways Authority of India. The much-awaited ‘hanging bridge’ will help ease traffic congestion in Kota city and reduce travel time.

The agreement for the project was signed in 2006 under the Congress government. The construction could start only in 2007 due to delays in getting environmental clearance. Later, the bridge collapsed in 2009, extending the completion date from 2012 to 2017.

The Modi government took up the challenge and completed the construction and inaugurated it on 29 August 2017.

6. Kishanganga hydropower plant

The NHPC’s Kishanganga project in Jammu and Kashmir faced many international disputes with Pakistan, which the previous Congress government was unsuccessful in resolving. Probably this reason stalled the project for years.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi dedicated the hydropower project to the nation in 2018. The project has achieved success after surviving numerous hurdles which were created by Pakistan. The development assumes significance given the strategic importance of the 330 megawatt (MW) project on the river Kishanganga, a tributary of Jhelum.

While Pakistan had challenged the project under the Indus Waters Treaty of 1960, the International Court of Arbitration at The Hague ruled in India's favour in 2013.

The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government has stepped up efforts to develop the infrastructure architecture for Jammu and Kashmir. These projects include developing roads totalling 683.31 km in length, with an investment of Rs 10,204.45 crore. Other projects include the marquee 14-km-long Zojila tunnel and the 6.5-km Z-Morh tunnel on Srinagar-Kargil road.

7. Kollam Bypass

The Kollam bypass is 2 lane road in Kerala connecting Mevaram in the south to Kavanad in the north, via Ayathil, Kallumthazham, Kadavoor and Kureepuzha in Kollam city. Started in 1972, this 13.14 km road has been stuck in bureaucratic hassles since its inception.  Neither the Left nor the Congress government in the state could commence work on the project which led to major cost escalations.

This indecision led to delays and deadlines kept rolling by. With the Modi government coming to power, the project was sped up in partnership with the state government. Proposed in 1970s, the Kollam bypass was finally inaugurated by Modi on 15 January 2019.

8. Bengaluru Metro

Namma Metro, also known as Bengaluru Metro is a rapid transit system serving the city of Bengaluru. As of October 2018, it is the third longest operational metro network in India after the Delhi Metro and Hyderabad Metro. It also contains the first underground metro line in South India. This project was approved in 2006.

This project ran into land acquisition problems which led to delay of 6 years and a cost escalation of more than 20 per cent. This project accelerated after this government took over the construction of 26 km of the 33 km phase 1 line.

9. Navi Mumbai Airport

The Navi Mumbai International airport is an under construction airport, designed to reduce the traffic of the existing Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj international airport, Mumbai. Conceptualised in 1997, this mega project has been in the back burner for more than 20 years now. Clearances from MoEFCC and MoD under the Manmohan Singh government and land acquisition issues have prolonged the period of completion.

The project has finally ‘taken off’ because of the timely intervention and acceleration by Modi government. Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis says that the first flight from the airport will take off in March 2020.

11. Lucknow Metro

Lucknow Metro is a rapid transit system serving the capital city of Uttar Pradesh. After the initial conceptualisation in 2008 under the Mayawati government, the construction only began in 2014 after the Modi government was elected. Although former chief minister Akhilesh Yadav claims it as his accomplishment, the construction sped up only after the synergy was established between the BJP governments at the state and the centre. Not to mention it is the fastest completed metro projects of its kind in India.

So. . .

One of the significant steps taken by this government was to acknowledge the huge potential of the stalled projects and accelerate their efforts to complete them. The government did not stop to think of who has conceptualised the idea and who will eventually get the credit, before addressing the issue of project pendency head on.

A crucial step taken in this regard was the setting up of the multi-purpose and multi-modal platform PRAGATI, which stands for Pro-Active Governance and Timely Implementation. One of the objectives of PRAGATI is to closely monitor programmes and projects launched by the central and State governments to ensure timely implementation.

PRAGATI helps identify stalled projects and expedite their completion. The Prime Minister himself heads this body. Earlier, we talked about the three vertices of the tripod. But to balance all the three vertices of this tripod, there needs to be a central engine, a platform that congregates all the three cores. PRAGATI is that platform when it comes to project execution in India.

PRAGATI turned out to be a very effective platform to synergise all three aspects: process, people and technology onto a single platform. It is a proactive and a competent project management tool that studies the risk assessment of all the projects and provides solutions to remove the impasse that holds these projects back.

Other steps to ensure timely implementation of projects include directives issued to the bureaucracy. Today, bureaucrats cannot withhold a cabinet note for more than 3 days without furnishing a proper explanation. If they do that, they start receiving follow up calls directly from the PMO. Regular updates are sought on all critical projects every week, sometimes even making a surprise calls to junior officers to get the ball rolling.

In case of stalled projects, this government was able to get all the stakeholders in one room and discuss their issues face to face. This ensured removal of deadlocks and gave additional accountability. This along with the use of technology to resolve implementation deadlocks had a huge impact on addressing issues of implementation pendency.