Why Project Delays Are The Biggest Problem Facing Real Estate

Governments at the Centre are often accused of making policy decisions in their air-conditioned offices at prime localities without giving much thought to what happens in the real world. Game changer as they may look on papers to senior bureaucrats, national-level urban development policies end up getting stuck at various stages. Despite the huge expenditure, they hardly achieve their set targets. This is why emerging economies that constantly struggle on how to go about urban development see many of their large-scale infrastructure failing to meet their targets. India is no exception. While the country tries to grow infrastructural, it also has to cope with the hindrances coming its way. 

For instance, while the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government at the Centre has launches many ambitious projects, including Swacch Bharat Mission, Housing For All project and Smart Cities Mission, the success of these schemes entirely depends on the co-operation between the union and the states.

However, it's authorities are not mindful of this and are making all the efforts to ensure better co-operation now. It has to be noted that launching big projects and promising the stars have cost government's heavily in the past. Unless their on-paper projects are a success, being voted back to power become difficult for political parties. This is true of real estate developers, too. If they fail to deliver projects on time, their reputation, no matter how grand it was in the past, will take a hit and selling projects would become difficult for them. Developers, too, are cleaning up their act to win buyers' confidence back.

So, when recently the Union Urban Development Ministry directed states to set up district-level committees to monitor urban infrastructure development projects, it certainly sounded like a great move. These panels would monitor the implementation of national urban schemes such as the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation, the Clean India Mission, the Heritage City Development and Augmentation Yojana, the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana and the National Urban Livelihood Mission. From reviewing to monitoring, these district levels panels would ensure the Centre and the state in question on the same page as far as the implementation of a particular project is concerned.

How will this help?

• The history of urban development in India is full of examples where big-ticket infrastructure projects have remained stuck at the grass-root level. By making districts a key stakeholder in the implementation process, the Centre would be able to achieve the desired success.

• Most issues are local in nature and to plug any possible loopholes in Central schemes, it is imperative to seek local advice.

• It is true that a high number of stakeholders end up lengthening the process of a project implementation. However, big-ticket government infrastructure projects cost heavily and taking any chances with their success may not be a wise move. Even otherwise, most projects fail to meet several deadlines set for them because there is local resistance involved. By taking locals on board, the time spent in coaxing the protestor would be saved, speeding up a project's progress.