Editorial 1: The shock of crumbling infrastructure and the solution
Context
As a key driver of the Indian economy, the infrastructure sector cannot be subject to failures; having a robust programme management system is important.
Introduction
Reports on the collapse of a series of under-construction bridges in Bihar have highlighted the issues of quality control and project implementation in infrastructure in India. In some instances, these have been megaprojects. The number of such incidents where bridges have collapsed could be 10 or even more. The infrastructure sector has been one of the key drivers of the Indian economy. The government’s aim of making India a developed nation by 2047 is linked to improvements in its infrastructure sector.
Steps taken to boost the infrastructure sector
- Policies and strategies: Steps to advance India’s infrastructure have taken shape in the form of the PM Gati Shakti National Master Plan (NMP), the National Logistics Policy and the Smart Cities Mission among others.
- Capital investment on infrastructure sector: Further, the government increased its capital expenditure allocation to ₹11.11 lakh crore (3.4% of GDP) in Budget 2024, indicating the government’s commitment towards infrastructure development.
The challenges within infrastructure sector
The sector still struggles with certain issues and challenges.
- Delayed implementation and costly affairs: One of the most common issues faced by most projects, particularly those that are government-sponsored, are time delays and cost overruns.
- A report by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation reveals that as many as 431 infrastructure development projects, each with investments of ₹150 crore or more, suffered a cost overrun of ₹4.82 lakh crore, as of December 2023.
- Moreover, the percentage of delayed projects hit a three-year low in March this year.
- Out of 779 projects delayed, 36% were running behind schedule for a period between 25 to 60 months, 26% for one to 12 months, 23% for 13 to 24 months, and 15% for over 60 months averaging a three-year delay.
- Delay in regulatory checks: Any industrial or commercial activity in India requires multiple clearances from the time of conception to the commissioning of the project.
- Gaps in planning and management: The implementation status of most of the projects points to gaps in project management practices, especially in urban infrastructure projects, including a lack of comprehensive planning and management by urban local bodies, and a lack of capacity of local self government institutions.
- Crowding out of funds: All this results in an additional expenditure burden on the government, crowds out funding for more deserving projects and increases procurement costs.
- Lack of intention: It has also been observed that sufficient attention, time and expertise are not devoted during the project planning stage.
- Crucial need for infa development: Therefore, building our experience in project management is crucial for India to continue on its high-growth trajectory in years ahead.
- Need for structured strategy: While organisations are realising the need for structured project management, many are looking at short-term programmes to enhance the skill sets of their existing project teams.
Traditional practices need an overhaul
Traditional project management practices require an overhaul to integrate modern tools and techniques that involve real-time data management and then crunching that data.
- Using global benchmarks: An enabling policy framework should consider global best standards on project management and prescribe procedures/guidelines for effective project execution in public sector and public-private partnership projects.
- Multi-pronged approach: Various countries have adopted multi-pronged approaches to address these issues.
- In the United Kingdom, the Infrastructure and Projects Authority has a special emphasis on the processes involved for project completion.
- China, Saudi Arabia and a few other countries have set up similar agencies for end-to end project deliveries.
The Indian Scenario
- Under PM Gati Shakti, the National Master Plan has been launched to break the silos in which government ministries/departments work to bring all stakeholders to work on an integrated platform.
- This initiative has set benchmarks for all departments to achieve the proposed targets and deadlines.
- PM GatiShakti is being demonstrated through a GIS-based ERP portal wherein the objective is to monitor real-time progress.
- This will provide not only visual depiction of the National Master Plan but will also integrate, through application programming interface, real-time progress of various departments.
- However, the quality of projects during implementation and the integrity of the team overseeing the projects will also be critical.
- A holistic “Program Management Approach”: is needed to address these challenges.
- This approach was adopted in the industrial corridors development projects, beginning with the Shendra-Bidkin in Aurangabad, Maharashtra.
- This involved a disciplined and systematic coordination of human resources, time, money, and information to plan and deliver multiple projects in a unified manner.
- It is typically employed when the mission involves significant resource expenditure and requires the integration of diverse activities (as in Shendra-Bidkin, with over nine packages taken up simultaneously).
Way forward: Set up an agency
- Streamlining processes: Programme management relies on well-defined and proven business delivery processes and tools to achieve the overall mission objectives within specified time and budget constraints.
- Skilled workforce: This can only be achieved if we are able to develop an industry-ready workforce.
- Project management infrastructure: Setting up an agency to conduct professional courses in project management along the lines of The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India and chartered engineers in various other countries, will help in developing professional ethics and responsibilities in project execution, monitoring and oversight.
Conclusion
The government has allocated a substantial budget of taxpayers’ money for infrastructure projects. As India moves ahead to become a global powerhouse, it is crucial to prevent time and cost overruns as well as the repeated failure of under-construction projects. Implementing a robust programme management system is essential to achieving this goal. Such a system will bring much-needed efficiency to create future-ready infrastructure, paving the way for an affluent and safe future for Indian citizens. Private players must come forward and contribute towards infrastructural development.
Editorial 2: Weather gods
Context
Attempts at controlling the weather are still in the realm of uncertainty.
Introduction
Earlier this week the Union Cabinet cleared the ₹2,000 crore Mission Mausam, which primarily involves a major upgrade of instruments used by organisations such as the India Meteorological Department, the National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting and the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM).
Importance of the weather organisations
- Strength of the weather infrastructure: These are the organisations that form the backbone of India’s weather and climate forecasting system on multiple time-scales.
- Nodal body of the mission: Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES), the nodal body executing the exercise
- Infrastructural projects: In the first tranche of the mission until 2026, the hopes to procure and install up to 60 weather radars, 15 wind profilers and 15 radiosondes.
- Boost the weather information availability: These are instruments that give regular updates on the changing parameters of wind speeds, atmospheric pressure, humidity, and temperature at various elevations of the atmosphere.
- On comparing with National Monsoon Mission, launched in 2012: The crux of that exercise was to evolve a new approach to forecasting the monsoon by developing weather models that relied on intensive computing.
- Updated technological advancements: India has an umbrella weather model that can be tweaked to generate forecasts on multiple timescales — from daily to seasonal monsoon predictions.
- Customisation of the model: Beyond the monsoon, such a model could be customised for heatwaves, cold waves and local forecasts.
Weather Interventions and Experiments
- Focussing on prediction accuracy: Making weather forecasts more accurate and improving precision is a never-ending iteration but Mission Mausam seeks to open more vistas.
- Modelling rain clouds: One of the proposals associated with the new mission is to set up a ‘cloud-simulation chamber’ at the IITM, which will help model rain clouds.
- Testing various “weather interventions”: Such as seeding clouds and tweaking them to control the rainfall from them.
- Plans to control lightning: As statistics reveal, lightning strikes are the number one cause of nature-propelled deaths, above floods and landslides, in India.
Way forward
While there are multiple socio-economic factors as to why this is so, meteorologists say they hope, one day, to be able to tweak the electrical characteristics of the cloud so that there are fewer lightning strikes that lethally traverse from sky to ground. While experiments have been done in other countries, there is much uncertainty on its feasibility. A holistic strategy includes advanced weather forecasts and ongoing research on weather interventions. The research and enhance an integrated approach among nations, which will be essential to reduce climate impacts and improve prediction accuracy.
Conclusion
Investing in fundamental research in the atmospheric sciences is a welcome move. The complexities posed by climate change suggest that multiple fronts may have to be opened to mitigate the effects of greenhouse gas emissions. While weather modification may not be a panacea, it will not hurt to wholesomely understand it. Investing in weather modification technologies like cloud simulation and lightning control is crucial, but the feasibility remains uncertain. Continued research in atmospheric sciences is necessary to address the challenges posed by climate change.
