How long before a brownfield project becomes black?

"Across the country, public assets like roadside parking slots, municipal grounds and advertising surfaces are free-for-all, often captured by the rich, powerful and unscrupulous," wrote Nitin Pai. "Yet, oblivious to their own wealth, or unable to monetize it, India's governments rely on taxes and devolved funds to fill their coffers." Nitin Pai must be living in a different country. According to the internet site of the Regional Transport Office (RTO) in Delhi, registration and road tax of the cheapest car, costing below Rs 400,000, will come to Rs 20,630, which is over 5% of the showroom price. This includes municipal parking charges and compulsory FasTags which are meant for paying toll. The showroom price will include goods and services tax (GST) which is 18%+1% cess for the smallest cars with an engine smaller than 1200cc, cleartax.in. GST on a SUV is at 28%+22% cess. In Delhi, although municipal parking charges are included in registration fees, municipalities charge by the hour for parking cars, indianexpress.com (IE). Combined taxes of central and state governments on petrol is over 55%, Times of India (TOI). "That is why the National Monetisation Pipeline (NMP), announced by the finance minister last week, should be welcomed." Pai should not underestimate our lot. They are the most efficient at sucking blood in the whole world. "The government...unveiled a four-year National Monetisation Pipeline (NMP) worth an estimated Rs 6 lakh crore (Rs 6 trillion). It aims to unlock value in brownfield projects by engaging the private sector, transferring to them revenue rights and not ownership in the projects, and using the funds so generated for infrastructure creation across the country," IE. A brownfield project is the leasing of existing assets so that production can start immediately, investopedia. The danger of handing over public assets to private ownership is that they may create monopolies and, in order to maximize profits, the private company will not want to spend on maintenance and will want to increase prices. "Singapore had to nationalize its suburban trains and signalling systems because their main private operator had underinvested in maintenance, leading to breakdowns and stranded passengers," wrote Andy Mukherjee.  "In New South Wales, where electricity prices doubled in five years after poles and wires were privatized, the government had to step in to lower the burden on consumers." Already, India is gradually transforming into monopolies or duopolies. "After a spate of recent acquisitions, Adani Group now runs the largest number of airports in India, from having no presence in the sector a few years ago," wrote Rupa Subramanya. "Indeed, when he became prime minister, Modi flew from Ahmedabad to New Delhi on Adani's private jet. During his victorious election campaign, Adani's fleet of private jets ensured that Modi was able to sleep in his own bed every night after a full day of campaigning." "Both Adani and Ambani hail from the western Indian state of Gujarat," and "What makes the recent success of both Ambani and Adani all the more striking is that it is occurring in an economy that contracted drastically in 2020." "The collapse of the Kremlin-led oligarch model in Russia into gangster capitalism, in the context of a stagnating economy, points to perils of stifling competitiveness and privileging established incumbents." Public entities are suffering because of government negligence."An analysis of vacant Board positions as on March 31, shows that in 24 Maharatnas and Navratnas, there are a total number of 149 board-level vacancies comprising 11 positions of executive directors (EDs), 135 positions of of independent directors (IDs), and three positions of nominee directors," wrote M Damodaran. With Vodafone Idea close to collapse, India's vast telecom market will have just two players - Airtel and Mukesh Ambani's Jio, Mukherjee wrote. "As India de-emphasizes the platform model" in e-commerce, "The winner maybe pursuing a different business model for aggregating supplies. Mukesh Ambani, India's richest man, controls both the largest chain of physical stores and the largest telco," Mukherjee. "Ultimately, the NMP will deliver public value to the extent that the government shows itself to be a law-abiding player," Pai. That is a trillion dollar (not rupees) question.