With public transport in shambles compared to the standards of peer nations in all of East Asia, a massive investment holds the key to establish manufacturing of scale in India in a major way. Delhi Metro Railways project implementation has already proved that India does have the capability to roll out plans ahead of schedule, without budget overruns and yet have a responsive end product, a transport system, that creates a tangible difference in the lives of millions of people in Delhi and rest of National Capital Region (NCR). Now with the plans to roll out similar mass rapid metro rail projects in Hyderabad, Pune, Lucknow, Kanpur, Kochi, Jaipur, Patna, Guwahati and several other cities gives India the opportunity to manufacture the manufacturing industry in India by scale, capacity and assembly line speed.
Several leading bankers and international finance consultancies have published reports about India's cringing needs for a massive infrastructure overhaul. As per Goldman Sachs (Global Economics Paper No: 187), India needs an investment of US$ 1.7 trillion in the next decade to keep pace with its growing population and global commerce trappings, which it must adhere to be relevant internationally and stable domestically. What happened in the preparations of Delhi Commonwealth Games 2010 (BBC World - Auditor slams CWG preparations and Comptroller and Accountant General's report), is a sample case of how money is siphoned off and remains unaccounted ever. Having said that, public transport system did get a major boost in Delhi so the city could be showcased to foreign visitors, and in doing so a legacy system was created and got imprinted in the minds of not just city dwellers but the entire nation. Ask anyone in Delhi and they will not stop singing paeans of the Delhi Metro Railways system, which indeed was the focal infrastructure project accelerated with an eye on the Commonwealth Games in 2010.
Now with Delhi's Metro Railways completing phase III in 2016 and then entering phase IV that's targeted to complete in 2021 (taking the total length of the rail tracks to almost 500 km), the focus should move to local manufacturing of rolling stock. Currently, the metro rail system uses a mix of rolling stock sourced from international makers (Delhi Metro, Insights) such as Hyundai, Mitsubishi and Bombardier, but indigenously designed and built machinery can dramatically alter the picture in every scope. Expansion of lines in 2016 will massively increase the need of rolling stock, which coupled with metro railway projects in Mumbai, Jaipur, Bengaluru and Kolkata (already operational or near completion), necessitate much needed supply of suburban railway machinery. A single-site just-in-time assembly-line (Tata Nano inspired) maker-supplier model envisages a super-factory that can be world class and speedily turn around orders.
India's incredibly competitive admission exams for management schools and technology universities has resulted in a league of prestigious institutions (and its resultant students) who must be engaged by the government to fructify this huge railway rolling stock super-factory infrastructure. Below are some stunning examples of success and case studies in India where projects have been completed with precision and feat:
These projects testify that things can happen and that too with mindbogglingly efficient ways.
The upcoming planned suburban metro railway projects in big cities across India present the ideal opportunity for central government, which remains the biggest shareholder in these projects, to spur manufacturing and cut on widening negative balance of trade in India. One of the ways it could be done is:
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Several leading bankers and international finance consultancies have published reports about India's cringing needs for a massive infrastructure overhaul. As per Goldman Sachs (Global Economics Paper No: 187), India needs an investment of US$ 1.7 trillion in the next decade to keep pace with its growing population and global commerce trappings, which it must adhere to be relevant internationally and stable domestically. What happened in the preparations of Delhi Commonwealth Games 2010 (BBC World - Auditor slams CWG preparations and Comptroller and Accountant General's report), is a sample case of how money is siphoned off and remains unaccounted ever. Having said that, public transport system did get a major boost in Delhi so the city could be showcased to foreign visitors, and in doing so a legacy system was created and got imprinted in the minds of not just city dwellers but the entire nation. Ask anyone in Delhi and they will not stop singing paeans of the Delhi Metro Railways system, which indeed was the focal infrastructure project accelerated with an eye on the Commonwealth Games in 2010.
Now with Delhi's Metro Railways completing phase III in 2016 and then entering phase IV that's targeted to complete in 2021 (taking the total length of the rail tracks to almost 500 km), the focus should move to local manufacturing of rolling stock. Currently, the metro rail system uses a mix of rolling stock sourced from international makers (Delhi Metro, Insights) such as Hyundai, Mitsubishi and Bombardier, but indigenously designed and built machinery can dramatically alter the picture in every scope. Expansion of lines in 2016 will massively increase the need of rolling stock, which coupled with metro railway projects in Mumbai, Jaipur, Bengaluru and Kolkata (already operational or near completion), necessitate much needed supply of suburban railway machinery. A single-site just-in-time assembly-line (Tata Nano inspired) maker-supplier model envisages a super-factory that can be world class and speedily turn around orders.
India's incredibly competitive admission exams for management schools and technology universities has resulted in a league of prestigious institutions (and its resultant students) who must be engaged by the government to fructify this huge railway rolling stock super-factory infrastructure. Below are some stunning examples of success and case studies in India where projects have been completed with precision and feat:
- Reliance Jamnagar mega refinery - http://www.bechtel.com/jamnagar_refinery_expansion.html
- Karcham Wangtoo Hydroelectric Plant - http://voith.com/en/Hand_out_India_Karcham_2013_Print.pdf
- Mangalyaan - the Indian Mars Orbiter Mission
These projects testify that things can happen and that too with mindbogglingly efficient ways.
The upcoming planned suburban metro railway projects in big cities across India present the ideal opportunity for central government, which remains the biggest shareholder in these projects, to spur manufacturing and cut on widening negative balance of trade in India. One of the ways it could be done is:
- create a special purpose incorporated institution that implements the execution of all suburban rail mass transit projects.
- participate with existing national bodies such as: Indian Railways (Ministry of Railways), Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) and premier educational and research institutions with specialization in mechanical engineering and allied fields (to design metro railways rolling stock). DMRC can provide successful case studies of how it could be such a success in Delhi. Indian Railways has its own share of credit for successfully rolling out railways in high altitude Himalayan state of Jammu & Kashmir.
- involve large Indian corporate houses that have a focus on transport equipment and automotive machinery.
- acquire large contiguous land with acquiescence of farmers. India does not have much empty land because small farmers hold most of the landmass as fragmented holdings. The farmers must be given some shareholding of this super-factory and other similar emoluments.
- every upcoming suburban mass transit system in the country must purchase rolling stock from this super-factory. This must happen because of the massive economies of scale, local production and easier logistics.
- involve large financial institutions such as domestic provident/pension funds, domestic banks and international sovereign funds. The participation of these institutions will guarantee high degree of oversight and transparency along with formidable monetary muscle.
This mega factory on going successfully operational will be the test bed of higher automotive technology research to implement international systems customized per local necessities. It will provide significant economic relief by reducing foreign exchange spendings and a great employment cycle to the multimillion educated youth population. All that remains to be seen is how soon the Indian government, which has started to create the right noises (MAKE IN INDIA campaign), actuates this intent into materiality.
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