Tuesday, August 30, 2005
The Dead City
India was shining, Shanghai was calling, people had terminal cases of euphoria and then all of a sudden it just rained. The dreams, just like the roads, washed away along with lives, faith in administration and, thankfully, the false sense of hope the city folk had in the rest of the country giving a damn – perhaps the ultimate act of callousness was no aid coming to Bombay, just a flood of text messages praising the ‘spirit of the city.’ It will take years now to get really serious about development. What are the options? All the city’s problems come down to these two things:
Financial independence from the country…
It’s pretty clear from the past debacle that whatever money that the city created for the rest of the country went into a black hole. Fifty years of funding the central exchequer and not a cent to show for it least of all and development aid in return! And since we are nice patriotic fools…we will continue doing so. The solution lies in a little piggy bank called a city trust fund. A simple solution where, a portion of income taxes or new taxes are imposed for the city’s upkeep – this seems like the only way the city can get the resources it needs. Now to push this through, start reopening the dance bars, entertainment taxes on all bars, pubs, nip joints, everything. This tax doesn’t even have to be that high…maybe 100 bucks per attendance. On every single watering hole that shouldn’t be too bad. The magic of this is the simplicity of it all! Watering holes are government registered. Now just increase their business timings in return for this and let the taxes flow in.
Infrastructure…
What is the best way to fund a road corridor, get your money back, and make money out of it? Warren Buffet once said that the best business he could think of was a Toll Station. So, let’s use this idea. Start road works on the Western, Eastern Highways, and major arterial roads. Make these roads indestructible, and immune to weather and traffic jams. When you do all that, open a toll booth and charge just 5 bucks for a car and 50 for a truck and that funds its upkeep. If the argument is that no one will want to pay for something that they have used for free for so long, well no one complains about the 100 they pay for the Poona expressway. Why? Because they are getting their money’s worth!
As for other infrastructure projects, things become a bit more complicated here. This is because infrastructure encompasses sewers, utilities and urban transport systems. Most of the operators in this arena are running bankrupt. BSES, BEST, BMC, Railways, these poor behemoths face one big problem…they are run by the government. Except for BSES that is run by Reliance, all the others need to be privatized immediately and not one person except the inept employees working would object. Oddly, it’s been the minorities that have scuttled all privatization initiatives, like the unions, various lobbies and politicians with vested interests.
India was shining, Shanghai was calling, people had terminal cases of euphoria and then all of a sudden it just rained. The dreams, just like the roads, washed away along with lives, faith in administration and, thankfully, the false sense of hope the city folk had in the rest of the country giving a damn – perhaps the ultimate act of callousness was no aid coming to Bombay, just a flood of text messages praising the ‘spirit of the city.’ It will take years now to get really serious about development. What are the options? All the city’s problems come down to these two things:
Financial independence from the country…
It’s pretty clear from the past debacle that whatever money that the city created for the rest of the country went into a black hole. Fifty years of funding the central exchequer and not a cent to show for it least of all and development aid in return! And since we are nice patriotic fools…we will continue doing so. The solution lies in a little piggy bank called a city trust fund. A simple solution where, a portion of income taxes or new taxes are imposed for the city’s upkeep – this seems like the only way the city can get the resources it needs. Now to push this through, start reopening the dance bars, entertainment taxes on all bars, pubs, nip joints, everything. This tax doesn’t even have to be that high…maybe 100 bucks per attendance. On every single watering hole that shouldn’t be too bad. The magic of this is the simplicity of it all! Watering holes are government registered. Now just increase their business timings in return for this and let the taxes flow in.
Infrastructure…
What is the best way to fund a road corridor, get your money back, and make money out of it? Warren Buffet once said that the best business he could think of was a Toll Station. So, let’s use this idea. Start road works on the Western, Eastern Highways, and major arterial roads. Make these roads indestructible, and immune to weather and traffic jams. When you do all that, open a toll booth and charge just 5 bucks for a car and 50 for a truck and that funds its upkeep. If the argument is that no one will want to pay for something that they have used for free for so long, well no one complains about the 100 they pay for the Poona expressway. Why? Because they are getting their money’s worth!
As for other infrastructure projects, things become a bit more complicated here. This is because infrastructure encompasses sewers, utilities and urban transport systems. Most of the operators in this arena are running bankrupt. BSES, BEST, BMC, Railways, these poor behemoths face one big problem…they are run by the government. Except for BSES that is run by Reliance, all the others need to be privatized immediately and not one person except the inept employees working would object. Oddly, it’s been the minorities that have scuttled all privatization initiatives, like the unions, various lobbies and politicians with vested interests.
# posted by ☭ Comrade Nambiar☭ @ 4:03 AM 
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Good one.
The idea of the toll booth was put forth by the Ambanis and Tatas, but rejected by the govt.
Privatization has begun, it's slow and needs to be sped up.
The idea of the toll booth was put forth by the Ambanis and Tatas, but rejected by the govt.
Privatization has begun, it's slow and needs to be sped up.
Tashekor and Mersi Pepper.
Yes, in fact you are correct about the Tatas and the Ambanis. Oddly, the govt did reject it then but i think the dynamics of populist politics have changed now. Besides, i think the citizenry arent too averse to spending some money on quality infrastructure.
However, when it comes to corporates, the question is: "Do they do enough?" or "Do they just do what makes them money" Will create another post soon and hope to spark of much Jang. :)
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Yes, in fact you are correct about the Tatas and the Ambanis. Oddly, the govt did reject it then but i think the dynamics of populist politics have changed now. Besides, i think the citizenry arent too averse to spending some money on quality infrastructure.
However, when it comes to corporates, the question is: "Do they do enough?" or "Do they just do what makes them money" Will create another post soon and hope to spark of much Jang. :)
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