High Cost of Building Cheap

Well, another monsoon comes to an end—or we hope it is coming to an end. This year has been especially troublesome for the mountain states of Himachal, Uttarakhand, J&K, and the riverine states like Punjab below. With record rainfalls, swelling rivers, and landslides, it has brought far more misery, death, and destruction than in many decades in the past. Every day, social media carries horrific images of dead animals, ruined crops, submerged cars, giant landslides, and entire homes getting washed away. Each State Government is putting its claim (some say exaggerated) to get the maximum disaster relief funds from the Centre. Pundits of WhatsApp University are dealing in platitudes about global warming, the revenge of nature, and so on. Come September, come Diwali time, it will all be forgotten—at least till the time we are hit again. We have seen this movie many times before.

Have we ever thought why several old colonial-era buildings continue to survive despite witnessing so many of these calamities over decades, whereas many newly built structures get washed away easily? Then, further, why is it that some buildings, bridges, etc., remain steady while many others give way on the slightest water pressure? Besides the usual homilies about corruption, poor planning, contractor-engineer-politician nexus, etc., which of course do have some merit, the real answer lies not in playing the blame game but in finding the right engineering solutions to our ailing construction sector and backing it with the right decision-making system. It is as applicable for a small landowner building a home for his family as it is for the government building a large infrastructure project. Besides prudent use of engineering, the answer also lies in the right choice of technology and material. On both counts, we are to be blamed and not any hidden force like global warming, which science till date does not understand to any credible extent at all. We can forget about any serious mitigating action to the problem of sudden and dramatic change in weather conditions; rather, we have to develop a scientific response system to ensure our infrastructure can withstand the vicissitudes.

At the lower end, where the homes, shops, hotels, and schools are built by individuals, the construction sector is by and large run by what in common language are rather uncharitably called “petty contractors.” Most of them are workers and masons turned contractors or small businessmen who have taken up this vocation. While some of them are indeed very resourceful, most, however, have near-zero knowledge when it comes to basic engineering and structural safety. The obvious things like soil conditions, site-specific attributes (so important in the hills), seismic zones, building codes, etc., are far above their pay grade to comprehend. They are simply in the business to maximise profits and not to do something durable and sturdy. Their task is also not made easy by us when we cut corners. We do not mind spending big money on things which we can show off—the marbles, granites, fancy fittings, and opulent elevations—but when it comes to building a structure, we are least bothered about its strength and safety. Ask a middle-class owner to hire a good structural engineer to design his building and get him to visit and check every time a casting of column or roof is done, and he will consider it an unnecessary bother and expenditure. It does not matter that the total cost of the structure is generally 25–35 per cent of the building, and the use of these services and precautions adds only 3–5 per cent to the cost of the structure, which in effect means that it adds only 0.75 per cent to 2 per cent to the overall cost of construction of the completed building. In most cases, the contractor himself acts as a self-appointed safety expert and structural engineer rolled into one. Ironically, his interests are aligned diametrically against these very qualities, as his profits come if he underbuilds, saves on the material, and cuts short the processes. Then the quintessential Indian negotiation tendency to over-bargain with each vendor, mason, or contractor to feel that one has been very smart about it overlooks an essential fact: they are going to ultimately take home their profit from construction of your building, and if they are squeezed unreasonably and made to work on unworkable rates, it is the quality of the construction which will suffer. The old Hindi saying, “Mehenga roye ek baar, sasta roye baar baar” (you will cry once for an expensive thing; buy cheap stuff and you will be crying again and again), perhaps rings truer in construction than in any other sector.

Now, let us come to the larger infrastructure projects, and we find the system of tendering and contract is also excessively obsessed with L-1 (lowest priced tender), where the quality and specifications are there, but once L-1 is appointed in a procedurally correct way, it generally takes a back seat. The L-1 system is generally the safest for the governments, and it keeps the scope of accusations and scandals away. Now, with multiple new technologies, material choices, and methodologies, it is also antithetical to innovation and the introduction of new, better ways of doing things, which, in the long run, may actually prove to be sturdier and relatively inexpensive. It is so because there is no benchmark or precedent to measure their costing, and so the conservative babudom steers clear of them. We cannot really blame them. The irresponsible Indian democracy—where the opposition will be quick to pounce, assorted NGOs ready to make noise, and courts ever so willing to issue notices and put a spanner to projects—none of this sets a great stage for new things getting done, and done in a technically efficient fashion. Plus, the culture of scapegoatism and harassment by investigative agencies encourages most to take the conservative route. So, the decision-making ecosystem in fact dictates: build what is conventional, build it at the cheapest price, keep your head down, and stay away from the trouble. It is not the quality but the process which will protect you. If this architecture of decision-making and this mindset is not set right, what we are seeing this year is going to continue, and we will forever be pointing fingers at each other without reaching anywhere near a solution.

Views expressed are personal. The writer is an Ex-IPS officer, and he writes regularly on policy and economy