They killed the goose.

The government had hoped to award contracts to build 8800 km of roads this year but has found bidders for only 705 km. TOI 26 December. The projects are awarded on a Build, Operate and Transfer basis which means that the company which is awarded the project raises money from the market either through bank loans or through sale of equity and then recoups the money by charging toll from motorists and commercial vehicles over a period of 30 years. The road is transferred to government ownership after that. Last year 8000 km of roads were awarded with 31 of the 51 projects going at a premium which means that the companies actually paid the government large sums of money to be awarded the projects hoping to make huge gains because they would have monopoly to charge toll over 30 years. Trouble is that the calculation of earning potential was based on entirely erroneous traffic density. Whether civil servants had willfully duped them by showing projected traffic growth at unrealistic levels we do not know but most of these projects are now making losses. Companies are desperate to sell off these projects in the secondary market. Companies want to dump 50 projects for 5000 km of roads worth Rs 500 billion because the they are unable to pay off their debts. If you drive on our so called highways you will find very few cars except on certain stretches. Traffic mainly consists of trucks and occasional buses. Petrol is very expensive because of taxes and the addition of tolls makes a car journey more expensive than first class train fare. There is complete absence of police patrols on these roads so villagers drive the wrong way to save time making it extremely hazardous. If a car breaks down no help will be available and you maybe robbed by locals. A distance of 1000 km will take around 20 hours of driving whereas it will take around 12 hours by train in much greater comfort. It is impossible to understand why when politicians keep going abroad on taxpayer money they cannot understand that driving has to be safe and pleasurable for people. On the other hand if lots of people took to driving our oil bill would jump and the Current Account Deficit would be unsustainable. " Most of the private sector infrastructure firms are themselves trying to find a buyer for their road projects. How can you expect them to bid for new projects? They have already bitten off more than they can chew," said an industry analyst. The same for airlines. High taxes are killing the industry. International Air Transport Association CEO, Tony Tyler said," As long as high taxes prevail, high airport costs and congestion, high cost of operations exist, you are not going to get a lot of people to invest in airlines." Infrastructure is for the future but the Congress wants to loot now to win elections. The goose is dead. No golden egg.