Engineering the Infrastructure for Future India

Journeying all over India, Mr. Ravi Shankar gives an incisive account of where the infrastructure development needs for India are and weaves his experiences on what works and what does not.

Mr. Ravi Shankar (Mechanical Engineering)

Introduction

I started my career with the Neyveli Lignite Corporation as a power Engineer soon after graduating college in 1986. However, the drawbacks of public sector, like monotonous work and no opportunities for accelerated individual development drew me to start looking for private sector jobs. 

I joined Siemens India in 1995 and worked there for over 11 years. Here I executed projects for various customers and travelled to different parts of the country like West Bengal, Bihar, Haryana and Chhattisgarh. In this process, I came across various cultures and different types of people. Moreover I could see vast difference in development across various parts of India.

I continue to be in power sector today and for the past ten years have been with a major infrastructure group.  My observation is that the overall cumulative infrastructure development across India is still not at par with other developing nations. I am happy to note that my current organization has given me a vision for integrated growth prospects for India in the years to come.

According to The World Bank, lack of infrastructure is limiting the growth of the Indian economy. For India to progress from the present state, infrastructure readiness is very important. Infrastructure planning has to be engineered in such a way that it will not be a hindrance for growth in the future also.

In this section, I will describe what the various sectors of infrastructure are, and will outline the type of infrastructure investments needed in the future.

The various infrastructures that need to be geared up in India include Energy, Transportation, Infrastructure and Agriculture

Energy

Within the energy sector, there are sub-sectors such as Power and Oil & Gas

Power

India consumed around 756,000 gigawatt-hours of electricity in fiscal 2012, according to a report titled Energy Statistics 2013. Total demand of Power is expected to increase substantially and accordingly India’s electricity demand is expected to grow by 132% by 2035. The government plans the addition of new generation capacities to the tune of 89,000 MW during the period 2012-2017. Considerable investments are also expected in the transmission & distribution network.

Though the current focus is on fossil fired power stations, owing to the gap in demand and supply, the renewable energy sector is also picking up. In the last decade a lot of favorable policy changes brought rapid expansion in this sector, with new power plants coming up and private players entering the market. However during the same period, not much was done to improve the transmission and distribution section and the Transmission & Distribution projects then were mired by right of way issues and lack of governance.

China on the other hand has come out very strong in resolving this issues and the country has witnessed rapid economic growth in the last decade owing to the infrastructure development. The best example would be comparing The Three Georges Dam in China to the Sardar Sarovar Dam on River Narmada in India. Construction on three Georges dam started in late 1994 and completed in mid-2014 and the Sardar Sarovar Dam, which started in 1979, is still not complete in all respects.

To reduce the carbon footprint and moving towards a green energy goal, the Government of India (GoI) is promoting renewable energy (RE). Though the GoI has come up with various incentive policies in this sector, the growth is still not sustainable. A lot needs to be done in terms of framing new policies and financing RE projects to see rapid development in this sector. 

Today the government is trying to frame policies in this sector and make up for the lost time in the last decade. The free electricity and subsidies declared for political advantage should be scrapped for better growth of this sector. The quality of the grid to be refurbished to a smart grid to take of care of the mix of generations fluctuations from renewable, fossil and nuclear energy.

Moreover, realistic contractual agreements shall be made while entering to long-term agreements by Government and generating bodies for fuel and purchase of electricity. Stringent enforcement of laws to avoid power thefts should be done. Technological developments should be undertaken to reduce losses at various stages. The methodology for clearing a project to take off should be streamlined and faster.

The manufacturing infrastructure for this power sector has not developed over these 60 years whereas in China it has gone up to many manifolds. This will help India to reduce the dependence on other countries for project stage and maintenance stage. The infrastructure for any sector needs to be engineered in an integrated way.

Main thrust needs to be given for this sector in the following for future:

o   Development of manufacturing facilities and allied infrastructure like foundries and workshops
o   Quick clearances for project
o   More focus on renewable, nuclear
o   Grid stability, smart grids , strong transmission  & distribution network

Oil & Gas

The rapid industrial growth that is being forecast by year 2020 will give an impetus to the demand of Oil and Natural Gas in India.  The growth of Domestic energy and the fertilizer sector is expected to raise the demand of Gas in the current decade. According to the Planning Commission of India, during the Twelfth Plan, the total domestic energy production is expected to reach 670 million tons of oil equivalent (MTOE) by 2016-17 and 844 MTOE by 2021-22. This will meet about 71% and 69% of the total energy demand the balance shall be met by Imports.

The Government of India (GoI) has already started taking steps to encourage the development of alternate fuel sources such as coal bed methane (CBM), gas hydrates, hydrogen fuel cell, and blending of bio-fuels under the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy to reduce the country’s dependence on imported fuel. These new technologies, enabling efficient use of fossil fuels working in tandem with renewable energy are expected to fill the demand-supply gap in the future.

Transportation

With a growing population in India, demand for transport would increase further by 2020. Though initiative has already been taken for improvement in this sector, still much needs to be done. 

All-weather rural roads are expected to provide access to the farthest outlying villages. Due to lack of roads, some parts of the country where agriculture produce is surplus are unable to connect to the National market. This is to be planned and initiated immediately as it will help the commodity to reach for distribution in time and significantly reduce cost. This will also help in improvement in Health care facilities available to such far-flung Villages.  

Some of the roads, bridges are planned and made but due to delay in execution faced problems of cost overrun. Also, due to inadequate planning, after completion they become insufficient for the existing population. The poor quality of roads increases the fuel cost and maintenance cost of vehicles. Its leads to unsafe travel too.  The infrastructure facilities such as airports, railway stations and bus depots have recently become short of capacity in handling the increasing traffic. 

As increased traffic is expected at Ports, owing to the rapid industrial expansion, they need to be well connected to the inland for fast material movement. Dedicated freight corridors should also to be envisaged for fast movement of goods and material from and to the Ports. According to the Ministry of Railways’ estimates, demand for passenger and freight services would surge, which would require expansion of 25,000 km of new lines by 2020. The development of fast inter-city rail services is expected to increase passenger train traffic by 2020. 

As India is a land of large Perennial Rivers, the interlinking of rivers is to be implemented and Water transportation should be increased to meet the raising demand. The non-perennial rivers will get continuous water supply due to interconnection and this shall significantly improve traffic and reduce the transportation time.

By improving the construction technology using latest sophisticated equipment and fast construction methods the quality, reliability and maintainability of rail and roads shall be improved. Adequacy has to be engineered keeping into mind Safety and future expansion. Barricaded roads and rails for faster movements need to be conceived and implemented.

Infrastructure

Urban Infrastructure

The Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) was launched by the Ministry of Urban Development for a seven-year period (2005-2012) to encourage cities to initiate steps for bringing about improvements in their civic service levels in a phased manner. 

This covers urban renewal, water supply (including desalination plants), sanitation, sewerage and solid waste management, urban transport, development of heritage areas, and preservation of water bodies. The most notable aspect of this is the BRTS buses, which have become a major success in most of the cities.

Today though cities are fast developing, there are various pockets where basic amenities like clean drinking water and sanitation are still not developed well. Prioritizing the development of infrastructure of these areas is of the utmost importance.

The Government is considered as the sole financer of infrastructure projects over the years. However, given the priorities of the Government and lack of budget, the financing of infrastructure projects has slowed down in the last decade. 

Although, the GoI is still the largest financer of infrastructure projects it is encouraging private investment and looking forward to more Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the Infrastructure sector.

As a result, the share of the private sector in infrastructure financing gradually increased from a mere 25% in FY05 to 33% in 2010 and is expected to increase further to 45% by 2020.

Rural Infrastructure

India is a country of villages. However, since independence not much has been done to improve the infrastructure of rural areas.  Even today in most of the villages, the clean water, motorable roads and sanitation are distant dreams. Though electricity has reached some villages, the quality and availability is an issue. Many villages in Rajasthan, Bihar are without proper sanitation facilities. Even in many parts of extension of metros the condition is pathetic.

We need to focus on rural areas so as to bring about development in our country. By empowering the villages we shall be able to improve the quality of living of the villagers. 

Both public and private initiatives are needed to push the infrastructure development in rural areas.

Social Infrastructure

Health & Sanitation:  Improvement in health and sanitation facilities can be achieved through improvement in access to and utilization of health, family welfare and nutrition services with special focus on the under-served and underprivileged population. 

Public and Private expenditure on health and sanitation is to be increased with the advent of “Swaccha Bharat Abhiyan,” an initiative of the GoI. Furthermore, health insurance plans as well as government schemes such as ‘National Health Insurance Scheme’ for socially vulnerable and low-income people are also expected to play a role in financing for quality health services.

Education:  Though literacy rates in India have increased considerably, from 18% in 1951 to 65% in 2001 and 74% in 2011, they vary substantially among males and females as well as urban and rural populations. With the projected increase in the per capita income and various initiatives of the GoI, promoting education or females especially, a high enrollment ratio is expected in this decade. This in turn will up the literacy rates further by 2020.

However, not every private educational institute has the quality of a Birla Institute of Technology or our own PSG College of Technology.  The private educational institutes founded aplenty in recent year, that have come up at a very large scale are only concerned about making money, and they are running the institutes as business function rather than imparting skills to the students.  Quality of education is very poor and this has resulted in large number of unemployed individuals after college.  The government has to intervene and make education affordable as well as skill oriented.

New universities and institutes at the central, state and local level by both Government and private players imparting quality education will give a boost to the education infrastructure of India. 

Agriculture

With the growing population the demand for food grains is set to increase further.  Keeping pace with this demand the food grain storage, handling and classification system has to be developed. 

With the Government of India (GoI) keen on developing new technologies in seed germination, irrigation, harvest, storage and handling and the backing of various institutions and industries this sector shall witness a tremendous growth.

Owing to lack of infrastructure most of the food grains are stored in the open resulting in wastage and also damage due to weather.  This in addition to lack of transportation facilities from warehouses to markets leads to inflation. 

For non-perishable items, the post-harvest loss accounts for 5-10% and for perishables it is about 30%. New initiative will be required by both Public and Private Players to bring down wastages. The whole new system from harvest to plate has to be stepped up and new infrastructure in this sector will have to be developed on war footing.

Irrigation

Though Monsoon always tries to play a truant - an increase in irrigation facilities will increase the reliability in this sector. Though the schemes of irrigation are largely funded by the public, private players will always play an indirect role in its development.

The central Government has already declared various irrigation projects as national projects. These projects are expected to irrigate about 2.1 million hectare of farmland apart from engendering additional indirect benefits and availability of drinking water. Primarily funded by the GoI, these projects will cater to the food needs of the country by 2020. As significant investment is expected in irrigation facilities, timely and effective implementation of irrigation projects coupled with good governance will ensure achieving the desired results.

However, construction of dams takes a lot of time. The government should focus on constructing anicuts. Construction time of anicuts is small and also there is no submergence issue. Micro irrigation systems such as drip irrigation are to be implemented in all water-scarce and rain-fed areas. With the lowering of water table in most part of the country the investment in digging a well is increasing substantially.  Practices like rainwater harvesting will have to be practiced religiously in both urban and rural areas to recharge the water table.

Technology and research & development

In addition to development of irrigation facilities, increased investment in technology, especially information and communication technology (ICT) will help drive agriculture growth. 

The satellites provide accurate data for the farmers to plan the sowing. High-grade seeds shall be developed to increase the yield. Technology is going to play an important role in the agriculture growth of this country in the future. 

Cold storage and post-harvest management

Post-harvest losses in India are currently 5-10% for non-perishables and about 30% for perishable farm output. In view of this, greater focus is on development of post-harvest handling and agro processing during the current decade. The capital investment subsidy scheme implemented by the Ministry of Agriculture is also expected to support investments in cold storage and rural godowns. While public investments are expected to provide the much-needed support for development of post-harvest infrastructure, special thrust will be needed on encouraging private investments in this segment. Subsidy under National Horticultural Mission and the scheme for development and strengthening of Agricultural Marketing Infrastructure, Grading & Standardization are likely to attract private investments.

There are other miscellaneous infrastructure investments that will help accelerate agriculture sector growth directly or indirectly which include: FDI in retail chain, Infrastructure development, especially transportation and increased supply of power, Development of Mega Food Parks, Development of Horticulture, Precision Farming Promotion, Early Warning System and Weather Watch Management, Agricultural marketing promotion.

Agricultural reform

Policies coupled with infrastructure drive the Economic growth. GoI has devised several policies to promote agricultural growth in the past but further work needs to be done. Expecting a high growth in this sector in the current decade, the preparedness shall have to be ensured. Some major policy initiatives that need to be implemented in the current decade are:  

·       Agriculture policies
·       Industrial policies
·       Fiscal Policies – Taxation and subsidies
·       Financial policies
·       Environmental policies

Recommendations:

·     All projects must be engineered with forward and backward integration
·     All projects are to be engineered considering provisions for future expansion
·     Government clearances for the infrastructure projects to be speeded up
·     Quality Education rather than quantity education
·     Implementation of new technologies in agricultural sector
·     Implementation of interlinking of rivers and planning for anicuts

·     Proper planning, budgeting and monitoring for schedule completion

Summary

I have tried to provide here a broad overview based on my experience in the state of infrastructure in India as well as the areas that need focus to move India to a 21st Century economy.  As our current Prime Minister Narendra Modi has repeatedly emphasized, nearly a third of our population is under 30.  Thus, the future growth prospects of India are very strong.  However, as I have detailed above, this growth can become sustainable nation building only if it is done in a planned and integrated way.  The growth of engineers and infrastructure development go hand in hand.

I am very hopeful that the current graduating class and the ones coming up in the future will focus on building their careers in the infrastructure space and contribute the development of this most vital aspect of our economy.

About the author:

Mr. Ravi Shankar started his career with Neyveli Lignite Corporation.  He joined Siemens India and took on assignments to extend life of Power Plants.  He joined PPIL (A joint venture between Siemens AG and BHEL) in 1998 and contributed in successfully restarting generation in the Thermal Power Plants located in various parts of India. After a short stint in Reliance Energy Limited, in 2006, he joined Adani Group, where he worked on commissioning India’s first supercritical unit and also the largest single location Power Station.