http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/goa/Scam-infrastructure-feeding-Goas-debt-trap/articleshow/46750769.cms
After years of running comfortable revenue surpluses, the Goa government's spending spree has landed the state in a worrying instant debt crisis. Total public debt has now doubled—in much less than a decade—almost to an astonishing 10,000 crore. A significant portion of the burden comprises market-rate loans, for which full and timely repayment looks highly unlikely. But instead of focusing on sustainability and strict budget management, the Goa administration continues to commit huge sums of money to highly dubious projects. All governments borrow to cover month-to-month expenditure needs. Sustaining debt is part of responsible governance—borrowings ensure steady expenditures, and loan obligations will be comfortably serviced from prudent management of revenues. The problem arises when states like Goa—or countries like Greece—choose to enter a vicious cycle of borrowing money to pay off the interest of previous loans, even while pouring public resources into unnecessary white elephants. Note that it was Goa's current chief minister Laxmikant Parsekar who raised red flags about the state's looming debt trap five years ago, when he was in the opposition. "The reckless expenditure by the government," he said very reasonably, "Has led to liabilities exceeding 7,000 crore, which amounts to a per capita liability of 45,000, an increase of 100% in the last five years." But another five years later the situation is markedly worse, and what Parsekar said in 2010 is even more true of his own administration in 2015—the looming debt crisis is the result of "reckless expenditure on the creation of redundant assets, most of which are of a non-welfare nature and turn out to be liabilities which incur high capital costs and recurring maintenance and operational costs". In other words, scam infrastructure. Ever since Manohar Parrikar masterfully spliced together an unprecedented political front to sweep state polls in 2012, his BJP's answer to almost all questions has been a promise to build more and build faster. For no good reason that anyone can discern, a third bridge across the Mandovi river is being built at 600 crore. Another bridge across the Zuari is sanctioned at 1,100 crore. The tiny hamlet of Tiracol is home to just 300 citizens, but the Parrikar-Parsekar combine will spend 76 crore to build another bridge there, in a strict no-development zone to boot. This BJP government got considerable political mileage for readying on time for Lusofonia Games 2014, but very soon after the 12-day event it became evident huge sums had been squandered. The "world-class infrastructure" quickly deteriorated to third rate, barely ever used by the citizens who paid for it. The Miramar-Dona Paula road hot-mixed for the Games (cost: 1.63 crore) was immediately torn up again to be concretized, this time for an extraordinarily inflated 85 crore. Much more and much worse is already in the pipeline and being rushed through opaque tender processes to project development and construction, with only the scantest knowledge of the public. A giant oceanarium to finally destroy Miramar beach, a giant convention centre at Dona Paula to deteriorate still-empty like the Lusofonia stadia, and a ridiculous above-water boardwalk over the rivulet at Baga, as well as extensive cinema facilities to support the 10-day annual International Film Festival of India (Iffi). Even those outrageous money pits pale in comparison to the heist under way in plain sight at Mopa, where an all-party coalition has schemed to appropriate almost 1,000 ha. That is at least five times what is required for an airport and significantly larger than the size of the state capital of Panaji. Despite the fact that the new airport will be sandwiched between existing facilities at Dabolim and yet another upcoming new airport in Sindhudurg and despite massive public misgivings the project is being heedlessly rammed through. It is certain that prodigious, still-unprecedented sums will proceed to be spent to construct yet another "world-class infrastructure" scam—at least 6,000-9,000 crore. It is a fact of life everywhere in the world that construction procurement by governments is a surefire recipe for corruption and waste. The world's leading anti-corruption organization, London-based Transparency International has long warned about scam infrastructure building, "lack of transparency in large-scale projects has a devastating impact on economic development. Corrupt contracting processes leave developing countries saddled with sub-standard infrastructure and excessive debt". That is precisely Goa's plight in 2015.
