Dehradun: Most of the projects in India suffer poor implementation in the form of multiple overruns, said Former Chief Secretary of Uttarakhand, Dr. Ramachandran in an International Conference on Management of Infrastructure that concluded at College of Management and Economic Studies (CMES), University of Petroleum and Energy Studies (UPES)   recently.

In a special plenary address, he said that role of private participation in the infrastructure sector has been recognized in consecutive five-year plans and now the contribution of private sector has grown to $542 billion. Enumerating the critical issues and problems creating hurdles, he said that lack of national approval board; delay in clearance of the projects; poor estimation of inflation; land acquisition policy and poor project management are adding to the woes of the sector.  Expressing serious concern over the poor implementation trend in India, he gave an account of 1035 infrastructure projects, out of which 41% suffered cost over-run while 82% faced time over-run. 

Indu K Pandey, Former Chief Secretary of Uttarakhand, spoke on “Uttarakhand: A Development Scenario”. He dwelt at length over the transition of state’s focus   from agriculture to industry, the various development indicators and the intra-state disparity vis-à-vis infrastructure. He also illustrated the regional imbalance of infrastructure in the state, with a deficit of development in the hilly regions of the state. “Per Capita income of hill districts is Rs. 27900 in comparison of Rs. 42200 for plain districts” he noted. Mr. Pandey also threw light on development and social dimensions of development. He illustrated how poverty and lack of infrastructure lead to a vicious cycle, and explained the various development issues involved (economic, environmental and socio-cultural issues). He noted the need for inclusivity, social capital, and sustainable human development. Drawing upon his considerable experience, he illustrated 12 strategy challenges during the twelfth five-year plan period: enhanced capacity; enhancing skills and faster generation of employment; managing environment sustainability; markets for efficiency and inclusion; decentralization empowerment and inclusion; technology and innovation; securing the energy future of India; accelerated development of transport infrastructure; rural transformation and sustained growth of agriculture; managing urbanization; improved access to quality education and better preventive and curative health care. By illustrating a SWOT analysis of the infrastructure climate in the state, he gave the audience a holistic view of the sector in Uttarakhand.

Dr. Hemant Trivedi, Director, School of Petroleum Management, Pandit Deendayal Petroleum University, spoke on “Current scenario and future of energy sector”. He started his presentation with a detailed explanation of the current energy scenario. He talked in length about the shift in symptoms of an unsustainable energy system, and oil prices – which are at an all time high- acting as a brake on the world economy. He talked in length about the various sources of energy and its production/consumption by region. While talking about the future of the energy sector, he noted that emerging economies steer the energy markets. “Global energy demand would rise by one-third in the period to 2035, underpinned by rising living standards in China, India and the Middle East. He talked about the emergence of a new silk road in the export Middle East oil to Asia. He illustrated the multiple benefits of renewable energy – which come at a cost- and evolved a blueprint for an efficient world. “Economically viable efficiency measures can halve energy demand growth to 2035; oil demand savings equal the current production of Russia and Norway”, he noted.

Dr. K.V. Damodharan, spoke on “Telecom and Regulatory (Role of Regulator in Infrastructure Development)”. Dr. Damodharan illustrated the importance of infrastructure development and noted that “inadequacy of infrastructure was one of the main reasons for

India’s slow economic growth” and the “limited expertise in government to modernize, develop and operate infrastructure projects in a timely and cost effective manner”. He talked about the emergence of the Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) model and the emergence of a regulator in many sectors.  He also noted that infrastructure development in the country is expected to have a much larger role for private investments and the presence of a regulator to ensure a level playing field. “Establishing credibility is the ability of the regulatory system to safeguard the interests of consumers”, he added.

In the telecom sector, Dr. Damodharan noted the transition from the public sector to the private sector and illustrated the history of the regulatory framework in the sector. He talked in detail of the death of distance: “In the 90’s the call rates were according to the distance whereas in today’s scenario, distance is no longer a parameter to decide the call rate. Now, the call rates are same for different distances”.

Mr. Sanjeev Singhal, SBI Project Finance Division, while talking about the contemporary issues and the way forward in infrastructure financing and the role of PPP, expressed regret over the poor ranking of India on global competitiveness  in terms of infrastructure, with India ranking 84th out of a total of 144 countries. He talked about the models in the emerging markets of Brazil, China, Chile and South Korea, and revealed that the financial institutions backed by the government in these countries are working as backbone for the development of the infrastructure sector.

In the twelfth five-year plan period, he revealed that the projected investment is split evenly between debt and equity, but raising these funds is going to be a challenge. He noted that there is a danger that the sources identified many also not be able to contribute the projected investment and that the gap is likely to widen. “Other sources and forms of funding will need to be tapped/ developed to fill up the gap”, he added. He also explained the PPP model in India, risk allocation and key concerns of project structuring; intense competition; contractual enforcement; macro issues; financing and regulatory issues.

Mr. Ashok Emani, IDFC exhibited the gamut of Environment, Health and Safety (EHS) in India and said that constitutional provisions advocate the protection of environment, human life and the tribal culture. Earlier on day one of the conference,

Mr. Cherian Thomas, CEO, IDFC Foundation, speaking as Chief Guest  said that  Private investment and Public Private Partnership (PPP) has moved from the tentative option to preferred option for financing infrastructure projects in the country.He was speaking as Chief Guest of inaugural ceremony of International Conference on Management of Infrastructure that began at College of Management and Economics, University of Petroleum and Energy Studies today. Delivering a thought provoking address which showcased the achievements and challenges of the infrastructure sector, Mr. Thomas also dwelled on a short history of private sector involvement in the infrastructure space: during the tenth five-year plan, private sector investment was 20% of the investment in the infrastructure sector. During the eleventh five-year plan, of a total investment of $500 billion, 30% was targeted from the private sector; however, the achieved target was over 37%.  Mr. Thomas while citing examples from his experience added that while developing a project, the needs of users should be kept in mind over philosophical or ideological consideration. He added that PPP must be undertaken only if effectiveness, including cost effectiveness, can be achieved. Mr. Thomas also enumerated the various problems facing PPP projects in the country, by mentioning examples like the Delhi Metro project where the project has been developed before the infrastructure framework for the project could be addressed. He also lauded National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) and

Karnataka for effecting the reduction of losses by effective implementation. Expressing his concern on a number of overzealous developers bidding for projects with overtly enthusiastic terms with a view on achieving a notable presence in the sector, he suggested a framework where the number of bidders for a project is limited, with qualifications on financial strength and technical ability. Expressing his views on government policy, he mentioned the desirability of an enabling framework rather than a prescriptive framework.

Drawing his considerable experience in the infrastructure sector, Mr. Thomas mentioned certain pre-requisites for successful creation of infrastructure projects. These are: - stable policy and regulatory framework; long term strategy for sector; rigour in the way projects and programs are developed; risk framework, with risk passed on to those parties which are capable of handling them; should be able to stand test and scrutiny to transparent and individual evaluation; reliable sources of revenue; bringing in long term sources of finance and training programs to sensitize stakeholders to the realities of the infrastructure sector. 

Addressing the delegates, Chancellor of UPES, Dr. S.J. Chopra stressed upon the need for equitable contractual framework in the infrastructure sector while Vice- Chancellor Dr. Parag Diwan while throwing light on the chronology of the development of the University quoted ”UPES has always been ahead of the curve with its core sector education initiative .Starting with oil and gas sector in 2003 the university has moved ahead with departments like power, aviation, logistics, infrastructure etc.” . Mr. Diwan also mentioned about the consultancy initiatives being extended by the university to organizations like Bharat Petroleum and projects like  the  “ Golden quadrilateral “ and hydro power projects in Arunachal Pradesh.Pro Vice-Chancellor Mr. Utpal Ghosh asked the delegates and researches to deliberate upon the difference in infrastructural efficacy existing between the developed and developing countries. He exhorted the organizers to develop a set of recommendations on the basis of the findings, views and researchers being discussed in the two day conference.

Dr. Anirban Sengupta, Dean, College of Economic and Management Studies (CMES), University of Petroleum and Energy Studies (UPES), delivered the welcome address of ICMI- 2013. In his address, he noted that it has been ten years since CMES UPES started its journey of delivering energy and domain-specific management education. In this time, it has successfully launched nine domain-specific MBA programs, 4 domain-specific BBA programs and has been painstakingly working towards building up its PhD program as one of the most respected domain-specific PhD program in the area of infrastructure and core sector. “UPES as a university has now moved beyond from energy and has repositioned itself as the nation-builder’s university” added Dr. Sengupta. He added, “In line with the same, CMES UPES will now aspire to evolve as a leading B School in the infrastructure and core sector space.”

Having consolidated its under-graduate, graduate and PhD programs- CMES UPES has now launched itself into the next stage of institution building- that is- evolving as a thought leader in its area of expertise and create platforms for the various stakeholders. Dr. Sengupta held out the hope that ICMI as a concept would emerge as the most sought after business school- driven annual conference in the infrastructure and core sector space.  With 105 papers being presented over the two days (92 during the technical sessions and 13 in the invited paper category), ICMI 2013 is a platform for academicians, practitioners, policy-makers and regulators to showcase cutting-edge research as well as exchange new thoughts and ideas for development and management of infrastructure.

On the first day, the first presentation was delivered by Dr. Reshmy Nair, Administrative Staff College of India on “Land acquisition and resettlement” and discussed the macroeconomic

and contemporary issues regarding land acquisition. The second presentation was delivered by Dr. Binay Anand, Shell USA on the topic “Shale Gas Discovery: opportunities and challenges”. Dr. Anand informed the audience about the immense potential of shale gas as an alternative source of energy. Ashwani Khanna, DIAL spoke on “Airport Infrastructure Management and Challenges”. He showcased the importance of the aviation sector and made suggestions for the growth of the industry. Dr. Ugur Goven, Professor of Nuclear Energy at UPES, expressed his views on “Role and Essentials of Nuclear Energy in our future”. He illustrated the importance of energy and the suitability of nuclear energy to face challenges posed by climate change.The Convener Dr. K.K. Pandey & Co-Conveners Dr. Tarun Dhingra & Dr. Neeraj Anand, of the conference informed that as many as 105 papers  were presented by  different scholars, experts and  students from across the country. They said that these research papers were evaluated by the panel of experts and chairpersons.Best Papers for the different tracks are given below;

Tracks Number of Best papers

Best paper Authors Name

Energy 2 a)      Ms. Neha M. Sehgal & Dr. K.K. Pandey

b)     Mr. Gursharan Singh & Dr. Tarun Dhingra

Transportation 1 Dr. Sumit Gupta, Dr. T. Joji Rao along & Mr. Sachin

Resource & Facilities 1 Mr. Sikher deep and Ms. Akansha SaklaniSoft Infrastructure 1 Dr. Shashi K. Tiwari,

In the student category, Mr. Abhishek Pundir, Mr. Vaibhav and Ms. Yogiata Sharma were adjudged as first, second and third respectively. On the behalf of CMES, Convener’s team announced that this conference as an annual event. Team added that the findings of the conference would be compiled, published and furnished to the concerned Ministries.

Here are some pictures,