Maha polls: Will push for projects pay dividends for BJP?

Five years after Mumbai, the financial capital of India, got its first Metro rail line – a mere 11.4-km line that took six years to build – the city is in the middle

Five years after Mumbai, the financial capital of India, got its first Metro rail line – a mere 11.4-km line that took six years to build – the city is in the middle of a transformation, at least to improve its transportation mode. With six Metro lines or nearly 140km of Metro corridor under-construction to connect Mumbai and the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), the Bharatiya Janata Party-led state government’s infrastructure push is evident.

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Apart from Mumbai and MMR, the state, which came to power in Maharashtra in October 2014, has cleared Metro rail projects for other cities, including Nagpur, Pune, and Nashik. Coming to power on the development agenda, the state, in the first six months, cleared Metro rail projects in Mumbai and Nagpur. The coordination between the state and BJP-led NDA government at the Centre also helped the pace of execution in Maharashtra.

With nearly ₹1.5 lakh crore of Metro rail projects in the state, construction of Navi Mumbai International Airport, Mumbai Trans Harbour Link (MTHL), Mumbai-Nagpur Expressway or Samruddhi Mahamarg, and other projects, the development of infrastructure saw a push since 2014.

FAST-TRACKING INFRASTRUCTURE

Although the erstwhile Congress-NCP government, which ruled the state between 1999 and 2014, chalked out a Metro master plan, sea links and other key projects, it failed in executing them.

Tenders for construction of the 22.5-km MTHL between Sewri and Nhava were floated and junked a couple of times. The project changed hands due to the tussle between NCP-controlled Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) and Congress-controlled Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority. Despite having a Congress-led government at the Centre, then Maharashtra government found it difficult to get clearance, including from the environment ministry.

Conversely, the Narendra Modi government at the Centre gave a push to faster infrastructure development and speedier clearance for projects. Fadnavis, in Maharashtra, also took a keen interest in the progress of infrastructure projects and saw to it that they are not stuck in red tape. Guardian minister of Mumbai city and Shiv Sena minister Subhash Desai said, “Having the NDA government at the Centre has helped, we got clearances faster. We also faced problems and opposition from people and environmentalists, but we resolved them through dialogue.”

Mumbai MLA and minister of state for urban development Yogesh Sagar said the BJP went “beyond the slogan of transforming Mumbai into Shanghai”. “The BJP government came to power on the agenda of vikas (development). Therefore, right from the start, there was a push to clear projects. CM Devendra Fadnavis took interest and followed up on the projects, a ‘war room’ was created, so projects are not held up,” the minister said.

Political observers say the BJP has made a clear attempt to push projects to support its development plank. The party’s focus on winning over urban voters has been behind the push and it has delivered political dividends. With more than 100 constituencies of the 288 in the state Assembly under urban and semi-urban areas, including cities such as Mumbai, Thane, Navi Mumbai, Nashik, Pune, Nagpur, the BJP and its ally Shiv Sena can bank on the development plank. The Sena and BJP currently hold 15 and 16 seats, respectively, of the 36 seats in Mumbai. The eight seats of Pune are held by the BJP. Of the six Assembly seats in Thane, three are held by the BJP and two are held by the Sena and one is with the Nationalist Congress Party. Nagpur, which has six seats, is firmly in control of the BJP. The state cleared Metro lines worth ₹22,302 crore in Pune, Nashik and Nagpur.

“The BJP increased its tally in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation from 31 in 2012 to 82 in 2017, riding on development spearheaded by Devendra Fadnavis,” Sagar said. “The Congress-NCP had 15 years to provide better transportation to people Mumbai and in the state. They failed to do so. We did it and are still doing it and therefore we will surely get its benefit electorally,” the minister said.

Deepak Pawar, a political analyst, said the BJP has managed to promote and propagate their achievements better than the Congress. “What they have successfully done is won the perception battle that the CM is a clean person, and the ones before him were all thieves… The infra development was proposed in the mid-1970s, but the Congress government could not do it,” Pawar said.

PROMISE VS DELIVERY

While the promise of delivery was there, the pace of construction of key projects including two Metro lines and the Navi Mumbai airport lagged behind. The actual construction for Fadnavis’s pet project –701-km Samruddhi Mahamarg connecting Mumbai and Nagpur – is yet to begin. The state had planned to get the project started before going into the Assembly elections, as the project promises to ‘change the economy’ of the state’s ‘backward areas’. The project was slow to start as it faced land acquisition hurdles, opposition from landowners, and due to the financial condition of the cash-strapped Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC), which is the nodal agency of the project. The state recently gave its nod for ₹4,000-crore loan for the project that is estimated to cost ₹55,335 crore.

The greenfield airport in the satellite city of Navi Mumbai has been plagued by delays and cost escalation over issues of land acquisition and environment. The ₹16,704-crore project is being developed under the public-private-partnership (PPP) model between GVK group subsidiary Mumbai International Airport and City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO) on a develop-build-finance-operate-transfer (DBFOT) basis. While the earlier deadline of December 2019 has been missed, the new deadline of mid-2020 too appears to be an uphill task.

RIGHT TRACK?

Transport analysts have questioned the government’s push for projects in one go. Transport expert Ashok Datar said, “There are a few Metro lines that should not have been considered now. The government should have constructed Metro 3, Metro 2 initially and then seen the need for other lines. They could have come up with other transportation options, which are much cheaper.”

Pawar added, “In the past four years, Mumbai is facing severe jams due to Metro construction. This is the collateral damage of the ‘infrastructure push’. An autorickshaw ride which took 30 minutes, now takes over an hour, buses take even longer, there is more fuel consumption and man hours are wasted. The government started the construction all at once to win the 2019 election… What will be the impact of the loans that the agencies are taking on the fiscal deficit of the state, who will think about it?”

The state government’s metro plan in MMR has 13 corridors which are expected to cost ₹1,22,087 crore. The state through the MMRDA is going to fund the civil construction of most Metro lines, while it will seek loans from multi-lateral agencies to purchase systems and rakes (trains) for the lines.