Partha Chakraborty-
Partha Chakraborty is an Indian-born immigrant; a naturalized US Citizen since 2018. Educated in India and at Cornell University, Partha is currently an entrepreneur in water technologies, Blockchain, and wealth management in the US and in India. The views expressed are his own.
James Caan. Michael Caine. Sean Connery. Gene Hackman. Anthony Hopkins. Robert Redford. A 1977 World War II epic, “A Bridge too Far” – celluloid representation of “Operation Market Garden” of September 1944 – brought them together. Operation Market Garden itself was absolutely impressive for its size and resources deployed – 34,600 Allied troops dropped using over 1750 aircraft, over 3000 gliders and other airborne vehicles, 5000 vehicles of bridging equipment, 9000 combat engineers – making it the biggest airborne offense to date.
Just as impressive as the Infrastructure Bill that just passed the Congress, and is on the President’s desk.
Passing the Infrastructure Program is really a well-earned feather in the cap for the administration. For me, it vindicated democracy in action. It was messy, delayed and at times on verge of collapse. But survive it did, I can argue it had a resurrection of sorts last week, and the bipartisan effort is about to be signed into law by the President today. “After years and years of infrastructure week, we’re on the cusp of an infrastructure decade that I believe will transform America,” said Biden hailing passing of the Bill through the House. “It’s an issue where traditionally Republicans and Democrats have been able to come together and say, ‘We may disagree on taxes and healthcare and all sorts of other things, but on this issue of having strong infrastructure, we can come together,” said Sen. Rob Portman (R., Ohio), lead GOP negotiator in the process. “This bill will rebuild crumbling roads and bridges and tunnels across the country. It will provide clean drinking water in American homes and address harmful contaminants. It will increase connectivity in our communities to bring broadband to even the most rural parts of our country,” crowed Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D., N.H.) involved in drafting the bill. White House’s thoughts were summed up by National Economic Council Director Brian Deese – “the risk of doing too little outweighs the risk of doing too much.” President Biden reiterated that “(T)his is the first time we’ve been able to, since the Johnson administration and maybe even before that, to begin to change the paradigm,” of how Government is supposed to work, reflecting a deep desire to be viewed in parallel to the New Deal and the Great Society.
In many ways this Bill will surely be transformative. 20% of the nation’s highways, and 45,000 bridges, are in poor state according to the White House. Analysts estimate it will take USD 1 Trillion to get our roads and bridges to a “state of good repair”. The bill calls for USD 550 Billion of new Federal investment in roads, bridges, broadband, water and energy systems. Included are USD 110 Billion for roads, bridges and major projects, USD 39 Billion for modernization of public transport systems, USD 66 Billion for rail maintenance and modernization, USD 11 Billion for highway and pedestrian safety programs, USD 7.5 Billion each for a new network of EV charging stations and zero /low emission buses and ferries, USD 42 Billion for ports, USD 65 Billion for rural broadband, USD 73 Billion to update nation’s power grid and USD 55 Billion for clean drinking water systems. Also, there is a USD 50 Billion provision for guarding nation’s infrastructure against climate change and cyberattacks.
Exact projects that will be funded is left to the states and named agencies. Some states have already made anticipatory moves, New York for example. Second Avenue Subway extension, revitalization of Port Authority Bus Terminal, upgrading of NYC Subway’s signaling system (majority of them date back to 1930’s and 1960’s, so old that any replacement now has to be made custom) are to be major beneficiaries. JFK Airport will get USD 295 Million, and LaGuardia USD 150 Million in new funds for upgrades. Columbus, OH, home to almost a million people and the fastest growing area in the Midwest and a Capital city to boot, is outside of Amtrak’s network. Single largest Federal investment in Amtrak’s history, included in the Bill, will change that, same for other corridors in the Midwest, Southeast and the West through a Corridor Identification and Development Program included. If the program is fully implemented, “by 2035, Amtrak expects to have added 30 or more new routes and increased service on at least 20 existing lines. Up to 160 communities would see new Amtrak service, and 15 states would gain multiple daily trips”.
Overall, the bill is a triumph of rational thinking and prudent actions. Bravo.
In these pages (We also build a better tomorrow) I have argued for a Public Private Partnership program akin to the war bonds the US used during World War II. The Biden Administration’s current plan is a small but significant step in bridging the estimated USD 20 Trillion needed to update aging infrastructure on top of the USD 1 Trillion needed just to bring the infrastructure to a “state of good repair”. It makes sense to reconsider frameworks to invite private capital – especially patient, long-term capital like endowments and insurance reserves – meaningfully. Private capital is the norm in many developed economies, but foreign companies are surprised to find how small individual project size may be as a consequence of the balkanized nature of infrastructure ownership in the US, pushing them away. Localized ownership leaves both decision making and servicing of infrastructure to local players, who may not have the savvy, nor the incentive, to think in a transformative fashion. Short of economies of scale, the resource becomes scarcer, and any infrastructure money almost inevitably goes to new projects – forcing existing projects below the state of good repair. This vicious cycle continues.
New approaches can yield results, and they have already been tried successfully. Pennsylvania tried “Project Bundling”, pooling 558 low-use but structurally deficient rural bridges into a single “Pennsylvania Rapid Bridge Replacement Project (RBR)”. This USD 900 Million first Public-Private-Partnership project is the first in the nation to have a multi-location, multi-asset approach in a project of similar scope. A second successful approach will be reworking contract design to reflect long horizon. Private Partners can be paid not just to finish construction, but also how well they maintain and operate it. A suitable framework may be DBOM (“Design, Build, Operate & Maintain”) contract that the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey employed for both LaGuardia Airport Terminal renovation as well as the building of the new Goethals bridge connecting New Jersey and the Staten Island.
There is no reason we can not replicate these successes to bring in a “Multiplier Effect” for Federal allocations elsewhere.
Impressive as Operation Market Garden looked, historians, however, maintain that “in terms of the Allies’ original objectives, the operation was a total failure”. Part of the failure is attributed to lack of preparation – preparations were declared complete in one week when prepping for less ambitious operations took months. Critics were scathing in their review of “A Bridge too Far”. NY Times claimed “(T)he movie is massive, shapeless, often unexpectedly moving, confusing, sad, vivid and very, very long”; others were even less charitable. Both the real Operation Market Garden and the make-believe A Bridge too Far were big in resources, but, lacking in forethought on implementation both failed.
Bridging the gap between reality and resources requires lessons from history, geographies and industries. Otherwise, we will run the risk of a future Roger Ebert opining an equivalent of “It’s the longest B-grade war movie ever made” as Mr. Ebert did for the war epic. As Biden Administration basks in the well-earned glory of its legislative accomplishment, it must not lose that learning.
It’s not a bridge too far, I hope.
