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Vivek Bharati Posted online: Friday, October 01, 2004 at 1636 hours IST Updated: Saturday, October 02, 2004 at 1036 hours IST As I settled down in the flight from Bangkok to Hong Kong last week, I was drawn to a front-page report in the Asian Wall Street Journal describing how China and, on a much lower scale, India are pulling away jobs from advanced countries. Another report in the same paper compared levels of internet penetration in Asian markets. Despite the fact that India was at the bottom of the table, I was pleased that we figured in the story. Why feel good about small mercies, one may argue. But just a few years ago while the world was busy taking a hard look at the Asian economic story, particularly the amazing transformation of China, we found no mention in newspaper reports. The fact that media has now begun to take notice is proof of the fact that India’s economic potential is now being recognised. Some weeks ago, Newsweek ran a cover story on how India is emerging as one of the world’s best investment destination. This view is being echoed in other credible global investor meets across the world. A decade ago, businessmen abroad would cast a condescending glance as I exchanged my visiting card with them. Today, they treat Indians with respect even though they may not want to be part of India’s cumbersome business environment. Yet as one travels around Asia, the gap between what has been achieved by even small countries in the region and India hits you like a tornado and one gets that sinking feeling that we continue to be not years but decades behind. The sheer scale at which these countries have conceived and built projects makes one feel small and insignificant. The Changi airport at Singapore, built over two decades ago handles more passengers than all our airports put together. The 70 km expressway that connects the international airport at Kuala Lumpur to the city and built years ago, is as good as one gets anywhere in the world. The Hong Kong airport is connected to the city by the world’s longest suspension bridge, bigger than the Golden Gate. Within the city, there is a web of quality double-carriage roads at times crossing each other at three or four different levels. Hong Kong and Singapore have two of the busiest ports with perhaps the largest container terminals in the world. Far more trade is conducted through these two ports than all our ports put together. The tourist handling capacity of Bangkok, Singapore, KL and Hong Kong outstrips that of our entire country by a multiple of twenty or more. The sad part of the story is that we have not begun thinking on that scale. The highways, ports, airports that we are building now are not a patch on what you see in Southeast or East Asia. The fact that we cannot even build 500 metre flyovers or bridges on time speaks of our abysmal project management abilities. The skylines of our cities look puny compared to what one sees in this region. The Petronas towers in Kuala Lumpur makes one desperately look for one symbol of modern urban India that can attract tourists and make them carry tales of our construction capabilities. • Yes, India is now being recognised as an important investment destination • Yet, there’s a feeling that we are far behind other smaller countries • PM’s statement on his government’s first priority needs to be implemented We have not one convention centre that can seat 5,000 delegates while China and its neighbours have these in good number. There is not one city in the country that can boast of a taxi service for tourists at par with our competitors in Asia. One can go on and on. The short point is that we have a long way to go. The contrast between the unfulfilled promise of the sea bridge connecting Bandra to Worli in Mumbai and the suspension bridge in Hong Kong is a pointer to the gap that separates us from our eastern neighbours and China. We surely do not lack the capability. We have built impressive dams and hydro plants, implemented projects like the Konkan railway, created reputed institutions like the IITs and IIMs that are now the envy of the world. We have some of the world’s best engineers and technicians. I have met some European engineers working on the Delhi Metro who believe that the Indian engineering talent deployed on the project can teach project managers anywhere in the world a thing or two. We now need to harness and marshal this talent and tell the world that we too can create modern structures. Dhirubhai Ambani built the world’s largest refinery at one shot. That is the vision that must underlie our plans to build modern infrastructure that can support the enormous growth creating potential of India’s people and its entrepreneurs. While in Hong Kong I was delighted to read the Prime Minister’s statement in the US that infrastructure and improvement of the enabling environment for business was his government’s first priority. Our planners must turn this priority into a mammoth blueprint of how India must look ten years down the road. The blueprint should comprise a collection of projects that could be defined as say as 50 major expressways, 100 key bridges, a dozen airports, five key ports and logistic hubs, ten world-class cities with services that compare with the best in the world, 100 new townships, 20 convention centers, 30 mega power projects etc. All these projects should have the technical and quality parameters that set new global standards. The plan cannot be realised unless we have project managers to implement these projects. Let us choose 5,000, or even a thousand project managers from both government and private sectors, expose them to projects all over the world and give them intensive training in project management. The government cannot do this alone. This will have to be a partnership between public and private sectors on the one hand and Centre and states on the other. Let us launch a national mission on “infrastructure” to be completed within a defined time frame. The author is an advisor to Ficci ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> $9.95 domain names from Yahoo!. Register anything. http://us.click.yahoo.com/J8kdrA/y20IAA/yQLSAA/BRUplB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> *************************************************************************** Berdikusi dg Santun & Elegan, dg Semangat Persahabatan. 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