Infrastructure Projects In India Research Articles

Governance issues in BOT based PPP infrastructure projects in India

PurposeThe aim of this paper is to identify the combinations of economic, normative, reputational and cognitive mechanisms that can prevent post‐award governance challenges on build‐operate‐transfer (BOT) projects in India.Design/methodology/approachThe paper uses an empirical, case‐study based methodology to collect data and analyzes the cases through the use of the qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) technique. The paper first identifies and classifies the various kinds of governance challenges and preventive mechanisms in BOT projects based on the extant literature. Empirical evidence on 11 BOT projects in India is gathered and QCA is employed to unearth the linkages between specific governance mechanisms and post‐award challenges on these projects.FindingsProject governance issues were identified across two dominant interfaces – one between the public and private sector and the other between the project and the societal stakeholders. Governance mechanisms based on providing shared incentives combined with the capacity to administer projects are effective in combating governance challenges across the public‐private sector interface. Cognitive mechanisms which make the project more accountable to the societal stakeholders are most effective across the project‐stakeholder interface.Research limitations/implicationsThese findings can be validated on larger data sets, across geographies, sectors and variety of PPP projects – currently the authors have only studied the BOT variant of PPPs.Practical implicationsThe authors’ “contingency” approach to governance can help decision makers select specific governance mechanisms based on a project's structure and risk profile to better ensure successful delivery of a BOT project's objectives.Originality/valuePost‐award governance of PPP projects is a theme that has received comparatively little attention in the extant literature. Further, while post‐award issues as well as governance mechanisms have been separately identified, very little work exists that links these two sets of constructs. This paper seeks to contribute to knowledge in this area by proposing some preliminary findings on the link between post‐award issues and governance mechanisms. In addition, the paper employs an innovative technique called QCA to analyze the case‐study data.

Impact of privatisation on performance of airport infrastructure projects in India: a preliminary study

Governments across the globe are turning to private-sector led initiatives for airport management and infrastructure development. This has resulted in a significant industry trend toward enterprise partnerships between public and the private sector. This article summarises the basic elements of this trend in airport infrastructure development. It defines airport privatisation, the process of privatisation and explores the benefits, risks and implications of recent privatisation experiences across nations. It pays special attention to the India’s privatisation experience with Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Bangalore airports. Finally, the article examines issues relating to performance, ownership, pricing, risk-return and regulation, both in respect of Greenfield projects as well as Brownfield projects. This would pave the way to analyse the economic benefits of privatisation of Indian airports.

Unintended Consequences of Vigilance Activities in Two Project Settings in India

Anti-corruption agencies that are independent and vested with the authority to enforce laws can be a potent force in combating corruption. However, overzealous anti-corruption agencies acting in the absence of an effective institutional environment could paralyse the public sector's decision-making apparatus by instilling a sense of hesitancy into the officials’ minds. Through ethnographic studies of two infrastructure projects in India, I investigate how anti-corruption agencies contributed to project delays. This research supplements the existing discourse on factors contributing to the efficiency of anti-corruption agencies, given the constraints of project settings, and provides insights towards policy making in this domain.

Evaluation of private sector participation models in highway infrastructure in India – a system dynamics approach

A good and efficient road network forms the primary infrastructure that propels the development process in a country. There has been a rapid increase in the demand for highway infrastructure in India as freight traffic increased 180 times and passenger traffic increased 132 times between 1951 and 2000, whereas the total length of the road has just gone up by 8 times for the same period. Further to this, with the conventional way of depending on Government fiscal budgets for development of highway infrastructure having become impractical, Private Sector Participation (PSP) is the only effective solution to meet the rising infrastructure demands. Private sector participation in highway infrastructure projects in India has been observed presently under two major formats: BOT – Toll based and BOT – Annuity based models. BOT – Toll based model has been seen to be a failure in terms of expected returns to the concessionaire whereas the relatively newer Annuity model has been found to be attractive to the private sector. However, there exists an ambiguity whith respect to their suitability in a given case and in decision‐making. Using System Dynamics approach a framework is developed that would enable the decision maker to decide particular type of prievate sector participation (PSP) m odel for a given highway project. It is observed that the concessionaire’s desired rate of return and the traffic growth projections are the key parameters in selection of PSP model.

AN ANALYSIS OF PROJECTED URBAN INFRASTRUCTURE INVESTMENT COSTS IN INDIA*

There is considerable apprehension concerning the cost of rapid urbanization in developing countries. However, actual costs of urbanization have seldom been computed. This paper provides a relatively simple procedure for making such cost estimates from information which is readily available from executing agencies involved in urban infrastructure projects in India. It is found that infrastructure costs are not systematically different for large and small cities. Differences in costs are more related to differences in physical factors such as geography, terrain, and climate, and especially to the different levels of service standards used. It is also found that the costs of replacement investment assume increasing significance with growing urbanization. Planning activities must therefore give greater emphasis to replacement investments than is generally the case. The main conclusion is that the cost of providing basic urban infrastructure in India can be kept within manageable limits in the foreseeable future provided that modest standards are maintained. The appropriate level of urban infrastructure investment should be roughly double the current level in India.