Private developers in India have recently done very well, but has the government kept pace? The Narmada Dam dispute highlights the enduring shortcomings in the government's ability to facilitate fair and sustainable development.
"Many development experts think the government can do better. Even in India's road-widening efforts or its attempts to acquire land to build airports or develop stunted cities, the state 'expropriates the land for paltry compensation,' says Nasser Munjee, an infrastructure expert..."
The Narmada Dam "issue has become a classic one of haves vs. have-nots: On one side are the farmers who need the dam to irrigate their fields, and on the other are those who have lost access to their land because of it." To aviod making unpopular decisions "...government left it to the Supreme Court to direct the state to speed up its program for compensating and relocating the area's inhabitants."
Still "...the federal, state and local governments have been lax in implementing either their promises, the law or the Supreme Court directives. In short, it's been business as usual in the world's 10th largest economy."
FULL STORY: Dam Debate Dents India's Infrastructure
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Central Transportation Planning Staff/Boston Region MPO
Institute for Housing and Urban Development Studies (IHS)
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Harvard GSD Executive Education
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