C. Gopinath

Infrastructural problems peculiarly plague developing countries.

THE EDSA is a main artery that runs through Metro Manila. But the six-lane highway, at several points along its path, and at several times during the day, may well resemble a parking lot.

The Filipinos are trying all the usual things to manage traffic. They have a light railway system providing mass transit that runs along the middle of the road and is packed. The final digits of your vehicle's licence number determine the days when your car cannot be on the road. But the EDSA is still the main artery and it shows. My driver Romi, with typical Filipino equanimity, just shrugged and smiled when I asked him if these measures have helped ease the traffic congestion.

Infrastructural problems can cause serious obstructions to progress. Sometimes there is a lag between the demand for, and supply of, infrastructural capacity, especially in resource-scarce developing countries. On other hand, infrastructural problems can be aggravated by poor decision-making, which again seems to peculiarly plague developing countries.

The Chinese are an exception. They have mastered the art of planning for excess capacity in their infrastructure and the economy has had the freedom to grow to fill the demand. Staying with Manila, take the case of a new terminal at the Manila Airport. Germany's Fraport AG got the contract on a build-own-operate basis. But the nearly-complete structure is sitting idle and the company has written off its $432-million (Rs 1,944 crore) investment in its books after the contract, which was awarded by President Ramos, was challenged by his successor, President Arroyo's government in 2001. It was alleged that the contract contained illegal provisions and questions were also raised about the rate the contractor would charge customers for the use of the terminal. The Supreme Court voided the contract in 2003 and the dispute is now in arbitration.

Isn't this reminiscent of Enron's Dabhol plant in India?

By all accounts, Bangalore is reaching a crisis point regarding infrastructure. Politicians and business leaders are locking horns in public. The government certainly has to take its share of the blame for the lack of sufficient investment in roads, airport capacity, weak zoning, and so on. A resident complained that it takes 45 minutes to cover an eight-kilometre stretch.

While there surely is a problem arising out of narrow roads and too many vehicles, infrastructure is not the only reason for the problem although it is the easiest reason to give. A major part of the problem, often ignored, is how the existing infrastructure being used. And I'm not just talking about street vendors encroaching thoroughfares.

It will be quite apparent to any observer that with the same width of roads, but better driving habits, at least twice the volume of traffic can be handled.

On a daily basis, we can see the trade-off between personal motivations and public optimality. When a long line of vehicles dutifully waits at a traffic light, a few vehicles instead of waiting their turn would instead prefer to drive past the whole line to reach the front and try to squeeze into the lanes. When the light changes green, the swerving and adjusting that needs to take place to accommodate these errant few who are trying to cut in results in fewer vehicles moving past the lights, and the rest complain of traffic congestion.

Such selfish behaviour is replicated in numerous ways on the roads to the detriment of proper traffic flow and the inconvenience of many. This coupled with the inability of the system to enforce the rules or change habits is as much a problem as inadequate infrastructure. Hyderabad has been widening its roads and moving towards a rapid transit system. It has always aspired to outstrip Bangalore, the cyber capital of the nation, and has probably learnt some lessons from the latter. But widening roads and building flyovers will not solve the problem unless road behaviour is also dealt with.

It is easy to blame the government for `poor' infrastructure rather than also see how motorists' disregard for traffic rules compounds the problem. If habits and practices cause only a 50-per cent efficiency in use, increasing infrastructure capacity will be a very expensive and incomplete solution. Another common red herring is the `democracy' factor. When pushed to the wall to explain their indifferent record on alleviating poverty or weak implementation of declared policies, Indian politicians have taken to explaining that it is the price we pay for democracy. The argument, presumably, is that our democracy allows those who opposed the policies to take obstructionist actions such as strikes or legal means.

Look at China, they would say. They don't have to worry about elections but can take a long-term view and take hard decisions that would be unpopular.

If there ever was a red herring, it is this one. No one denies that democracy results in slower decision-making compared to a dictatorship as time and effort for participation has to be allowed. But when a decision is made through democratic means, participants should be responsible enough to accept it and go along with its implementation. Trying to be obstructionist using democratic institutions is not caused by democracy. It is obstructionism.

When the politicians take retrograde actions on populist motives, or if governments fail due to their members whimsically switching allegiances on flimsy grounds, it is not democracy but more the misuse of it. True democracy cannot be the reason for distribution of free power to farmers who by that are being taught not to value electricity as an input into farming, and the rest of the community has to bear the cost.

Democracy is again not the real reason why trade union leaders seek to protect the employment of those who already have jobs rather that cooperate with policy makers to expand the pie so that more jobs are created in the economy.

Within the democratic system in the Philippines, it would not be difficult for disputed amounts due to Fraport to be paid into an escrow account so the new terminal can come into use, while the legal wrangles wind their ways through the institutions. But the people continue to suffer as a facility lies unused, politicians lack the courage to make decisions, and democracy gets a bad name.

Infrastructure and democracy are the current buzzwords of excuses and should be called as such.

(The author is professor of international business and strategic management at Suffolk University, Boston, US. His Internet address is cgopinat@suffolk.edu)

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