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The Confederation of Indian Industry, a leading business group, says in a new study that India needs to invest $330 billion (euro 250 billion) in infrastructure over the next five years to keep the economy growing at its current rate of 8 per cent a year. But India currently spends only about $36 billion (euro 27 billion) a year on infrastructure development about half of what experts say it needs, and much less then neighbor and economic rival China. Any talk of India's shabby infrastructure facilities inevitably leads to comparisons with China. The general consensus here is that Chinese authorities get things done, while Indian officials waste precious time mulling what to do and placating political opponents. "We've been behind the loop on infrastructure for a very long time," said economist Saumitra Chaudhuri, a member of the economic advisory council to India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Two decades ago, "when the economy was growing at around 3 per cent, it didn't make such a difference,'' he said. "Now that we're growing at a faster rate the loopholes are glaring.'' That's especially true at New Delhi domestic airport, which suffers every winter because most of India's domestic airlines don't have pilots and planes equipped to takeoff and land in poor weather. The airport, Palam Airport, has an annual capacity for 12 million passengers, but deals with more than 16 million. Any delays mean passengers pile up quickly. The lucky ones get hard plastic seats, the unlucky stand or sleep on the floor. There's a single magazine stand, and a place to get tea, but not much else. Comfort, however, was secondary for Ravi, the 23-year-old engineer, who on Wednesday was more worried about getting to work. "I've already spent two days stuck here. I need to get back to work." Conditions at the Indira Gandhi International Airport were not much better, although delays were fewer because most foreign airlines can land in poor weather. Privatization and public-private partnerships are seen as one of the fastest ways to solve India's infrastructure problems. Last year, after many delays, the government turned over the modernization of New Delhi's and Mumbai's airports to two private consortiums. For New Delhi's airports, new runways and swanky terminals are planned by 2010, the year the city hosts the Commonwealth Games. "It'll be on the lines of Heathrow, or Changi or Frankfurt ... the best in the world,'' said Arun Arora, a spokesman for Delhi International Airport Private Ltd., the consortium overseeing the project. Some were skeptical about whether the airports could undergo such a major transformation. "If this is how they handle things at a major airport, I don't think they'll be able to handle the (Commonwealth) Games," said Yasha Aswal, a 20-year-old student waiting for a plane to take her to Bangalore, the country's high tech hub. Experts caution that privatization only works if the entire system is overhauled _ which isn't the case at the airports, where the government, under pressure from left-wing political allies, insisted the private consortiums keep most of what many consider a bloated staff. In this case, privatization "just changes the managers," said Chauduri, the economist. | |||
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