27
april 2014
international
construction
REGIONALREPORT: INDIA
Election hopes
>
A
s well as having to contend with
themonsoon season this summer,
the Indian construction industry
will face further disruption from the
April – May general election. Following
theMarch announcement of the election
dates, the award of new contracts is on
holduntil the newparliament is inplace,
probably at the end ofMay.
This is a result of long-standing Election Commission rules
that are designed to stop the incumbent party from influencing
the electorate.This means there is a ban on starting projects of
any kind and a moratorium on awarding contracts on public
infrastructure schemes such as roads andwater networks.
Thedisruption is likely to last a good threemonths.With close
to 815 million voters, India remains by far the world’s largest
democracy and this number of peoplemakes the logistics of an
election formidable.This year thepollwill beheld inninephases
from April 7 toMay 12, with results due to be announced on
May 16.
Fresh blood
Although currentPrimeMinisterManmohanSinghhasheld the
office for ten years, with a strengthened popularmandate in the
2009 election, his second termhas been tarnishedby corruption
scandals around the sale of mobile telecoms licenses and the
allocation of coal reserves, among others.These scandals caused
a certain amount of paralysis in his coalition administration,
and the construction industryhas undoubtedly felt a slowdown.
Mr Singh, now aged 81, has always said he would step down
after his second term in office, sowhatever the outcome of this
year’s election, there will be a new figure leading India in a few
weeks. Many hope a new personality and an injection of new
ideas will provide fresh impetus for the construction industry.
In terms of personalities, the two heavyweights are Rahul
Gandhi of the incumbent IndianNationalCongress (INC), and
Narendra Modi, prime ministerial candidate of the Bharatiya
Janata Party (BJP). Things are a little confused in that Mr
Ghandi is named as the headof the campaign, with the INC yet
to announce its primeministerial candidate.
Politics is the family business for Mr Ghandi, whose great
grandfather was Jawaharlal Nehru, India’s first PrimeMinister.
His grandmother was Indira Gandhi, the only woman to hold
the office of PrimeMinister, and his father, Rajiv Gandhi, was
the country’s sixth PrimeMinister. His mother, Sonia Gandhi,
refused the position of PrimeMinister following her husband’s
assassination in1991, but has been active inpolitics as president
of the INC for the last 16 years. However, Rahul Gandhi is a
relative newcomer topolitics, having entered the arena ten years
ago following a careermanagement consultancy and technology
firms.
Mr Modi meanwhile is more of a career politician, and has
been chief minister of the state of Gujarat for 13 years. He has
wonpraise for the“GujaratMiracle”– the state’s rapid economic
growth and industrialisation – but at the same time, critics say
he has a poor record in social policies and advancement.
The positive for the construction industry in amid the
disruption of the general election is that infrastructure has been
This year’s general
election in Indiawill disrupt
construction activity,
but a change in national
leadershipmight give
the industry some fresh
impetus.
Chris Sleight
reports.
Election hopes
Construction
of theMumbai
Water Tunnel
involved
excavationwith a
6.25m diameter
Robbins TBM
more than 100m
below ground.
Suvilas Properties
& Construction
chose a Liebherr
85 EC-Bi tower
crane for its
signature
development in
Bangalore.
