It is customary in India to see major infrastructure projects languishing for decades, adding to their cost. It is rarely understood by people that the increased cost is paid by the tax payer, who is always at the receiving end. The delays happen owing to different reasons though many of them are political battles. Mumbai and Maharashtra are presently witnessing this sad development. To illustrate the point, just three projects are discussed but there are dozens, being implemented at a snail’s pace and entailing higher expenditure year on year.
The most glaring case is of Dharavi Slum Redevelopment project, which will now be undertaken at an estimated cost of Rs.23000 crore against the earlier Rs.7200 crore. The escalation has happened in just three years. The other major project to cost much more is the Metro-3 underground train line. Its cost has gone up by around Rs.10000 crore, just because it was placed on a back burner by the previous government. The third such project is the Mumbai Trans Harbour Link. Initially considered to cost around Rs.4000, it will now require about Rs.10000 crore. Thus, in Mumbai area alone, the tax payer will have to shell out over Rs.35000 crore.
It is said that there are two types of tax – direct and indirect. Similarly, there are two types of cost escalation. Direct and indirect. While direct increases can be attributed to the market situation, the indirect burden is mostly due to governmental inaction, happening for political reasons.
In Maharashtra, due to the Covid pandemic but also because of the various political decisions of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) coalition, these three projects could not proceed with the expected speed. The result is that each of them will require more funding to complete. The ultimate sufferer will be the tax payer.
Consider the case of Dharavi redevelopment project. Originally, in 2004, it envisaged resettling about 68000 families. These included the slum dwellers and commercial establishments already existing. However, it never got off the ground. While various reasons were cited, the real reason was political. In fact, it was in 1999 that the government had first decided to redevelop Dharavi but no specific plan was ready. Then, the government decided to redevelop Dharavi as an integrated planned township. Then chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh announced the Dharavi redevelopment project in 2004. Deshmukh had drawn a rosy picture for the Dharavi residents. The plan also visualised developing a world class business centre in the remaining land. A new action plan was prepared, taking into account Dharavi’s proximity with the prestigious Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC).
Under this plan, it was decided to redevelop Dharavi by using the land occupied by it as a resource to cross-finance the cost of development through a commercial sale component. The government decided to notify entire Dharavi slum as a single entity and to appoint a Special Planning Authority (SPA) for its redevelopment. In 2011, the government drew up a master plan for redevelopment. But all planning was still only on paper.
The plan’s focus was to redevelop 600 acres of Dharavi. The Dharavi Redevelopment Authority (DRA) was created and the state floated global tenders in 2007. The response was overwhelming. Over 100 firms responded. However, over the years, the earlier story repeated. No action was taken by then chief minister Prithviraj Chavan. As a result, the project languished. The tendering process was cancelled in 2011. Though this was partly due to the global slowdown, the delay in the tendering process prompted several of the selected bidders to walk out. Expectedly, the process lacked clarity and the implementation was suffered.
Determination of eligible beneficiaries was another thorny issue that held up the project. In the intervening years, the slum kept on swelling. While it is guessed that there are over two lakh occupiers in Dharavi now, the official record shows only 69160 of them as legally entitled for shifting into new apartments. In between, a cursory survey conducted by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) in Sector 4 revealed that not even 40 percent of the residents were eligible for rehabilitation. This survey created apprehensions that most of the occupiers would be kept out of the project.
The state government allowed MHADA to redevelop Sector 5 of Dharavi. It had submitted a proposal the previous year to undertake the rehabilitation. However, just 266 families had moved into new homes by 2016. At the time, the BJP-Shiv Sena government, led by Devendra Fadnavis, was in power. A new tender was published for the other sectors. It was ignored by the construction industry and hence failed to elicit any response.
The government issued fresh global bids in 2018. Seclink, a UAE–based firm, was selected in 2019. Again, the process was cancelled on technical ground in October 2020. Seclink had won the bid due its quotation of Rs.7200 crore. The other bidder, Adani Infrastructure and Developers Private Limited, lost since its bid amount was Rs.4539 crore, much less.
Again, the state government realised at this stage that though it had acquired some land in Dharavi belonging to the Indian Railways by paying the Centre Rs.800 crore, this was not reflected in the tender documents. Attorney-general Ashutosh Kumbhakoni’s advice that fresh tenders were required as the cost of the railway land and rehabilitation was not incorporated in the tender document was accepted and the process stalled again.
The MVA government had meanwhile taken over, led by Uddhav Thackeray. One of its major decisions was to cancel the tender process in October 2020, when the Covid pandemic was at its peak.
After a delay of over two decades, the state government has published a global tender document on Friday, 30 September 2022, wherein the cost estimate of Rs.23000 crore is shown for the project.
Mumbai’s Metro 3 project …
The Maharashtra government has approved a cost escalation of over Rs.10000 crore for the Metro 3 project, which connects Colaba in south Mumbai with the international airport and SEEPZ in Andheri. The revised cost of Rs.33000 crore is the outcome of the political and legal battle over this and other projects. The completion of the first phase of the project is expected in 2023. The delay of more than two years took place mainly due to the dispute over its car shed, being developed at Aarey Milk Colony. The project’s Phase-I and Phase-II were to start in 2021 and 2022. According to the revised estimates, the cost has increased to Rs.33405 crore from Rs.23136 crore, estimated a decade ago.
The story of the Mumbai Trans Harbour Link (MTHL) project, also known as Sewri-Nhava Sheva Trans Harbor link is no different. The 22 km-long under construction six-lane access-controlled sea bridge connecting Sewri in south-central Mumbai to Chirle in Navi Mumbai, was to cost around Rs.4000 crore, as originally estimated in 2005. The cost of the longest sea link in India has increased time and again. It was revised to Rs.6000 crore in 2008, increased to Rs.8800 crore in November 2011 and to Rs.9360 crore in August 2012. It has now been enhanced to Rs.9600 crore, a jump of almost 240 percent in ten years.
The day to day life of the common people is not given any importance although it has been becoming more and more difficult due to lack of infrastructure adequate to cater to the growing population. Sadly, major infrastructure projects in other states are completed satisfactorily. The Shinde-Fadnavis government needs to learn a lesson, rather than accusing other states of snatching away projects from Maharashtra.
A Column By
Dilip Chaware – Senior Editor
A media professional for 43 years, with extensive experience of writing on
a variety of subjects; he is also a documentary producer and book author.
