Nitin Gadkari: The can-do instructor

If the speed with which Nitin Jairam Gadkari announces projects was to result in actual work, infrastructure development in India would have already undergone a transformational change. Gadkari has been president of the Bharatiya Janata Party and is believed to be a crucial link between the Rashtriya Swamyamsevak Sangh and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, putting him way up in the Cabinet hierarchy.
 

If Gadkari is to be believed, all problems concerning stalled road projects would be resolved by the second anniversary of the Modi government on May 26. The claim might largely come true, though at least a dozen "chronic" cases remain stuck, said a senior official. This do-spirit of the minister is, however, not matched by more realistic officials, who have a problem keeping pace with Gadkari’s grand plans.

A CRISIL Ratings study last year said 7,500 km of highway projects were at risk -- 5,100 km under construction and 2,400 km of operational ones, awarded mostly between 2010 and 2012 on a build, operate, transfer or BOT basis. Around half the projects under construction were at high risk of not being completed because of significant cost over-runs and weak wherewithal of sponsors. Though not much can be done by the government to resolve issues which are a making of corporates themselves, the ministry managed to get Cabinet approvals for additional equity infusion in stalled projects, and exit options for promoters which wanted to sell assets.

Lack of balance sheet strength of companies, resulting in their reluctance to invest further in the infrastructure sector, has made Gadkari look at more government funding in the sector, even as projects are being bid out under the low-risk hybrid annuity model. He makes no bones about terminating contracts of non-performing highway operators, while  taking to task bureaucrats accountable for delays.

As BJP president, he was denied a second term due to links with the Purti group of companies. "I do not wish allegations against me to adversely affect the interests of the BJP. I have therefore decided not to seek a second term as BJP president,'' Gadkari had said after a party meeting in January 2013.

As a minister, too, he has faced scrutiny for  links with corporate houses, be it regularisation of the E-rickshaws or award of a Rs 10,050-crore project to IRB Infrastructure for the Zojila pass tunnel contract in Jammu and Kashmir earlier this year. Unusually, the bid was cancelled on instructions of Gadkari himself in March, two months after Congress leader Digvijay Singh had alleged violation of guidelines. Gadkari was also the government face when it made the contentious move of changing the earlier land acquisition law. 
 

Through it all, the former Maharashtra minister for public works is a man of big plans. One of those is a cable car service between Delhi and Gurgaon.