The Hindu Business Line : On the road

The IT corridor project — to improve that all-important stretch of the Old Mahabalipuram Road (OMR) that is changing the very character of Chennai — was meant to be a landmark project, a milestone in creating an urban infrastructure facility. Rohit Modi, the then chief executive officer of the company that had taken up work on the road project, always talked of his dream of seeing Chennai having a signature road, one that would set a benchmark for other cities. He managed to instil his passion for the project in his team members. Two of them — K. Malmarugan and Sabina Narayan — who were closely involved with the project, almost from the time it was conceived, have brought out their experiences in the form of a book titled Evolution of an integrated urban facility: The IT corridor story.

For them, this was not just another road. In keeping with this feeling was the idea to have artwork lining the road, be it paintings on the compound walls of buildings or artwork at important intersections representing “six elements” — besides the five familiar elements of fire, water, space, earth and wind, they added ‘time’ as the sixth element.

Having painstakingly put together all the trials and tribulations associated with the project, the authors have, in a unique gesture, decided not to price their book. Theirs, as also that of the Tamil Nadu Road Development Company, which formed a special company to execute the IT Corridor project, was a dream. Unfortunately, it still remains a dream — the road is far from completion, although the deadlines have been pushed back more than a few times. The project is running at least two years behind schedule, with cost also escalating. Meanwhile, motorists on that vital road suffer and wonder for how much longer they will have to put up with such poor infrastructure.

Malmarugan and Sabina admit that theirs is but an “honest analysis, appraisal and accounting of the evolution of the project.” They hope that such an attempt “will be a harbinger of similar written ventures on roads and other infrastructure sectors, thus enriching our knowledge and understanding of infrastructure development in the country, especially in the public-private partnership domain.”

On this account alone, the book is an excellent narrative of the making of an infrastructure project — right from conception to execution and the challenges faced during the process. One of the major challenges was the rehabilitation and resettlement of all those affected by the land acquisition. Significantly, a number of places of worship had to be relocated, all of which was done with hardly a murmur of protest. More than anything else, the chapter that deals with this aspect of the project should serve as a lesson for those involved in similar projects.

Without going too much into the reasons for the delays plaguing the project, the authors have quite frankly admitted that adopting a transparent bidding process (as was done for this project) and selecting “an efficient contractor” (the most significant point) and completing the project “within the budgeted costs and time” is a challenge. The Indian bidding system all too often lays emphasis on the lowest cost, an easily quantifiable qualification. However, two more important criteria — quality and time — both of which are purely subjective need to be taken into account too while selecting the bidder. It is not possible to separate quality and time from cost. How project promoters can accomplish this without attracting criticism of favouritism is a challenge in itself. Therein lies the lesson that one might learn from the IT corridor project, as the Tamil Nadu Road Development Company is seriously examining the option of terminating the contract and awarding the work to others, to ensure there is no further delay in completion.

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