By Japan K Pathak

Gujarat Chief Minister has in her reply to Congress MLA Gyasuddin Sheikh in Gujarat Assembly on Wednesday announced that all works for Ghogha-Dahej ro-ro ferry project will be completed by March 2016. Chief Minister in reply to another question said that there has been 48% physical progress achieved in this project till December 2014. She said the rates received for dredging work are under consideration at present while offers received for joint operations of terminal and ferry are under scrutiny. She said the government has spent Rs. 95 crore 38 lakh in this project till December 2014. She added that the government plans to complete the project by March 2016(after one year).

Ro-Ro Ferry Service Terminal in Ghogha, connecting Saurashtra with South Gujarat (Dahej) in the Gulf of Cambay aims to facilitate speedy passenger travel and smooth cargo movement through the sea route between Ghogha and Dahej by reducing the 360 km land-route to a 31 km sea-route. The special Ro-Ro vessels plying between Dahej-Ghogha will have capacity to ferry 900 passengers and 100 vehicles in one trip.

Then Chief Minister Narendra Modi had laid the foundation stone for the project in January 2012. The project was targeted to complete in mid of year 2013.

As per a reply given in March 2012 by then minister Jaynarayan Vyas in Gujarat assembly, the estimated cost of the project when stone was laid was this:

Terminal Rs. 193.49 crore
Dredging Rs. 56.70 crore
Road on both sides: Rs. 23 crore
Navigation service: Rs. 6 crore
Contingency: Rs. 13.96 crore
Consultancy charges: Rs. 2.50 crore
Environment study: Rs. 0.15 crore
Total estimated cost: Rs. 295.80 crore

It will be interesting to see, what shall be the final cost of this project when it actually completes.

In reference with Jaynarayan Vyas’s reply in assembly in March 2012, It should be noted that he had pointed out that a management consultancy was appointed for dredging. Today after three years, the Chief Minister has in her reply stated that rates received for dredging work are under consideration. In short the project has not progressed enough to see even dredging work.

Vyas had cited delay in clearance from the Centre for late start of the project conceptualized way back in 2003 by the government, saying the proposal was sent for approval to Government of India in 2005.

note:

There’s something in this country which is not allowing to match it in speed with China when it comes to execution of very essential infrastructure projects.

There’s no doubt that among a given lot, Narendra Modi is best available political leader when it comes to governance and pro-active approach to infrastructural development. Works for an ambitious project of Ghogha-Dahej ro ro ferry were launched by Shri Modi himself. At the time of stone laying function the target period for completion of the project was announced.It was in range of one to two years. But now after over three years the project is not even 50% complete. As per the present Chief Minister’s reply in assembly it will take one more year to complete.

Interestingly, there’s no land acquisition needed in this project and environmental and other clearances were also available on day one. The works were launched after thorough study by experts and consultants. So the government can’t pass blame to any of these factors in this case.

You can blame politicians, but none blames babus. This entire show of ro ro project is run by government babus. These babus are hardly punished or questioned for their performance. They don’t fight election, but are always in power. As they are not frontal faces, and they work behind the stage almost invisibly, the anger if something goes wrong is easily transferred to politicians. The art of controlling babus and ensure desired results is not easy task for politicians in power, at least these politicians who are at helm of the state at present.

We can continue and narrow down this discussion to this specific project. But then this is not the only project progressing in slow speed in India. Almost all major and minor infra and development projects progress in similar slow speed or even slower. So there’s something lacking overall in system, character and culture of our society, completely contrary to China, though fixing it is not impossible.

As general election of assembly in Gujarat is scheduled in December 2017, politicians will ensure completion of this project by then at least. At that time, we should not celebrate the completion, but look at the time it took for completion, and escalation of cost the project witnessed. And the question ‘whether this project was actually well executed?’ will continue to remain there.

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