World Bank, ICA join hand to resolve project disputes in India

The World Bank today announced a partnership with Indian Council of Arbitration (ICA) to aid dispute resolution, if any, for speedier disposal of infrastructure projects in India.
ICA is an allied body of industry chamber Ficci and the partnership with World Bank aims to bring about improvements in Dispute Boards (DB) to make them more popular and acceptable in India.
"This is a very important initiative as institutional DRB option would be available not only for Bank (World Bank) funded projects but also for projects funded by other sources", Ficci quoted Shanker Lal, Senior Procurement Specialist, World Bank, in a release.

According to Lal, India is the largest borrower of World Bank with about 100 projects under implementation with loan commitment of about USD 27 billion.
The World Bank has been advocating use of DBs as an effective and speedy means to resolve disputes in infrastructure projects to minimise, if not eliminate delays, and consequent cost over-runs.
"Contractual disputes delay the implementation of the contracts as well as increase the cost and thus adversely impact development outcomes from projects", Lal added.

In India, he said, very few government agencies use DBs.
India is new to the concept of DBs, which helps resolve dispute before it reaches arbitration or litigation. It is formed before construction and meets at job-site periodically.

They usually contain three experts, acceptable to both the parties and conversant with the nature and complexity of work.