While a state public works department takes around 72 months to complete a project, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) finishes the job in 24-30 months with just 500 employees.
The method is simple: it outsources all the work. The core team simply ensures that the project comes together seamlessly.
In the past 50 years, according to NHAI officials, just 556 km of four - or six-lane highways were built, which works out to 11.12 km per year. In contrast, the NHAI will build 14,846 km of such highways by 2007, or 1,650 km a year.
For instance, the construction of the Ahmedabad-Vadodara expressway was started by the public works department in 1984, but legal problems stalled it. The project, which was handed over to the NHAI in September 1999, will be completed by the end of 2003.
The public works department of Madhya Pradesh has 46,000 employees, but has built just 1,000 km of roads in the past 15-16 years.
Apart from outsourcing construction and technical work, the NHAI will soon be handing out contracts for the maintenance of roads. For example, Intertoll of South Africa has an eight-year contract for maintaining the Delhi-Jaipur highway.
The NHAI's office in New Delhi is also looked after by outsiders. There are no drivers and official cars, only taxis hired on long-term contracts. A consultant has been hired to take care of tax deductions at source for payment of bills. Negotiations are also on with two banks for online transfer of money to the NHAI's 61 project implementation units.
Outsourcing has even caught on in some states. Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Digvijay Singh has decided to allow village communities and panchayats to hire school teachers without any bureaucratic interference.
According to the state's chief secretary, AV Singh, the government has contracted fertiliser co-operatives like Iffco and Kribhco and even private-sector dhanukas to conduct agricultural extension work in 17 districts.
Other states like Gujarat, Karnataka, West Bengal and Rajasthan have hired the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy to collect and publish data on their respective economies.
Rajasthan has even hired the agency to provide data on the industries that are doing well in order to correlate tax collection with the growth in industrial output and ensure that each industry pays its commensurate share of taxes.
Though the government's outsourcing is not quite in the same league as that of corporate India, it's a good start.
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