AN ANALYSIS OF SUSTAINABLE INFRASTRUCTURE PROVISION IN INDIA

AN ANALYSIS OF SUSTAINABLE INFRASTRUCTURE PROVISION IN INDIA.

The dynamic conversion of natural spaces into man-made environments presents a pressing concern for future generations. In modern economics, the imperative of sustainable development has gained prominence, challenging the conventional paradigms and necessitating a re-evaluation of traditional infrastructure models. Tragedy of Commons & Negative Externalities Neoclassical Growth Theory Coase Theorem.

EFFICIENCY???. Transaction costs, legal frameworks, and information asymmetry.

In this paper, we first develop a net welfare model for the ith country, aggregating the consumption bundles of the jth consumer in a competitive economy and a social planner’s economy. In the model, we assume that there exists a continuum of consumers standardised to the value 1. x1 = consumption of all other goods and services. x2 = consumption of goods and services from industries with high carbon emission rates P1 = price of x1 P2 = price of x2 E = A – ?x2 = environmental component, where A is an environmental commodity that the consumer consumes and ? denotes the level of transformation of x2 commodity into environmental degradation. The parameter ? can vary between 0 and ∞..

CONTINUED. N(x1,x2) = ln(x1) + ln(x2) - (P1x1 + P2x2).

We get standard results for the competitive economy:.

In a competitive economy, utilities are maximised by private individuals who are concerned only about maximising their own utility in terms of consumption of commodities x1 and x2 . They do not consider the environmental degradation caused by the process of their utility maximisation where the environmental component as a determinant of their utility is left out ..

PIGOUVIAN INTERVENTION. A Pigouvian tax is a corrective tax imposed by governments to internalize externalities and align private behavior with social welfare by charging a specific fee on activities generating negative external effects..

It’s the closest planet to the Sun and the smallest one.

RESULT. t* (optimal tax amount) = []1/2 - (AP2– 2? )]/2AP2.

THE REALITY OF COMPETITIVE AND COMMAND ECONOMIES.

REALITY CHECKS. The Brundtland Curve Hypothesis ( 1987 ) : 1.Supports “ Poverty Aggravates Climate Change ” •Poor people lack income & wealth •Consume pollution intensive fuels •Overexploit sensitive resources 2.Environmental damage vs Per Capita GDP –U shaped curve 3.With increase in Per Capita GDP, damage decreases -> turning Point -> damage increases.

REALITY CHECKS. “Future all dark and gloomy ?” - Alternative prediction : 1.With increase in Per Capita GDP, damage decreases ->damage stagnates 2. Adoption of environment friendly technology must to counter pollution with increased production Note: Disagreements exist- non poor cause pollution no less than the poor (in fact more at times) •unregulated industrialization driven by the rich •greater consumption of consumer durables ( e.g. appliances) as well as non-consumer durables ( e.g. milk ) by the rich ; production of which causes significant pollution.

ALTERNATIVE APPROACH TO THE PROBLEM. Another way to mitigate environmental degradation is to impose the abatement tax on the production of the goods in the industries with high carbon emissions so that it reduces the supply and thereby limits the consumption of such goods. There can be producer side approaches towards the alleviation of environmental degradation..

SUSTAINABILITY OF INFRASTRUCTURE. Infrastructure should not be considered as a single asset, such as a power station, water, or hospital network, but rather as part of a system with a portfolio of assets that cumulatively have significant ability to accomplish the three spheres of the SDGs, i.e., economic, environmental, and social sustainability. Innovation, Infrastructure & Industrialisation are intricately linked with numerous SDGs..

ROADWAYS. In the context of India's accelerating economic development over the years, the imperative for sustainable infrastructure. A measure of social roadway sustainability has been developed in the paper as: where, C = percentage of casualties to road accidents in a given time period M = number of vehicles registered per 1000 of the population U = average quantity of roadway utilised by the ith individual.

ROADWAY INDEX. Data Source: Using Infrastructure Statistics Report 2014, we compute the following values of Social Sustainability for 29 Indian States, for the years 2007-08, 2008-09, 2009-10. 2010-11, and 2011-12 and calculated the sustainability scores. Summary: The state with the highest sustainability score is: Karnataka (2011-12) scoring 3.246321 followed by Tamil Nadu (2010-11) with a score of 0.978926. The state with the lowest sustainability score is: Jammu Kashmir (2007-08) with a score of 0.12353 followed by Chandigarh (2008-09) with a score of 0.135427. The average sustainability score for India is 0.39423..

ESTIMATION STRATEGY. The logit model for predicting the probability (Si) of a state achieving sustainable roadways based on the independent variables (rural roads, urban roads, national highways, urban road density, rural road density, urban road density per population, rural road density per population, and expenditure on roadways) can be expressed as follows: States with sustainability scores greater than the national average for more than 3 of the 5 years assessed are assumed to be more likely to achieve sustainable roadway infrastructure and hence are assigned value 1, and states with sustainability score less than the national average are assigned the value 0, under similar logic..

SUMMARY OF RESULTS: COEFFICIENTS. [image] Variables RRDL URDI- RRDP URDP exp cons LR chi: Prob > chi: Observations 2007-08 0.000096 0.000429 — 0.001028 — 0.000034 — 0.000093 o. 106005 0.104146 0.0000199 0.797064 40.14 0.000 1020 2008-09 0.000629 0.000052 -0.001228 — 0.000185 0.5479174 0.1716201 0.0000662 0.8795694 32.78 0.000 1020 YEARS 2009-10 0.0000797 0.0000353 -0.0000666 _O. 0002167 -0.0001411 _0.01 SOS24 0.3490613 0.0000346 0.1048302 38.96 0.001 1020 2010-11 0.0000239 0.0003826 -0.0003081 -0.0004895 -0.000107 0.0041624 0.5412644 0.00003 13 0.2208173 38.84 0.000 1020 2011-12 0.000239 0.0001011 -0.0003362 0.0000821 -0.0000607 o. 1426898 1.378897 0.0000271 0.7591112 42.22 0.000 1020.

SUMMARY OF RESULTS: MARGINAL EFFECTS. [image] Variables RRDL URDL RRDP URDP exp Observations 2007-08 0.0000221 0.0009873 -0.0002365 -0.0002162 -0.0000803 0.0239527 0.002438 0.0000457 1020 2008-09 0.0000566 0.0000124 -0.0002884 -0.0004448 -0.000434 0.403029 0.1286716 0.0000155 1020 YEARS 2009-10 0.0000186 0.000000825 -0.0000149 -0.0000507 -0.000033 -0.0042299 0.0816532 0.0000809 1020 2010-11 0.000058 0.0000054 - 0.000075 -0.000125 - 0.000026 0.0010249 0.133218 0.0000007 1020 2011-12 0.000021 0.000038 - o. ooooos 0.000025 - 0.000015 0.3356694 0.3446953 0.0000024 1020.

ELECTRICITY. In infrastructural economics, including clean energy production and utilisation statistics is imperative when assessing clean electricity production and provision infrastructure sustainability as they not only bear economic costs to society but also reflect the efficiency of innovation. A measure of Social Sustainability has been defined as follows: where, RE = percentage of renewable electricity generation in a particular time period A = Affordability of electricity AR = Average Realisation of the units of electricity supplied utilised by the consumer in paise PCC = Per capita electricity consumption VE = percentage of villages that have been electrified.

ELECTRICITY INDEX. Data Source: Same as Roadways Summary: We infer an increasing trend..

CONCLUSION: A CARBON NEUTRAL FORMULA. Formula 1's Sustainability Strategy, initiated in 2019, is making significant progress toward carbon neutrality, as evidenced by: - A notable reduction in race season cargo, exemplified by remote broadcasting operations and redesigned cargo containers, resulting in a tangible decrease in equivalent CO2 tonnes, according to data from the 2019 season. - Achieving 100% renewable energy usage in F1 offices, contributing to a substantial reduction in the sport's overall carbon footprint. - The carbon-neutral broadcast production at the 2021 British Grand Prix, coupled with Formula 1 being awarded the highest Sustainability Management accolade by FIA, underscores the concrete and data-backed impact of their proactive sustainability initiatives..

CONCLUSION. - Sustainable infrastructure, a linchpin for holistic development, resonates with the global commitment of the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly Goal 9, emphasizing inclusive and sustainable industrialization, innovation, and resilient infrastructure. - Goal 9's focus on sustainable infrastructure extends its impact beyond economic growth, playing a crucial role in poverty eradication (SDG 1) by creating employment opportunities and enhancing access to essential services. - Sustainable infrastructure aligns with responsible consumption and production principles (SDG 12), integrating eco-friendly technologies and minimizing environmental impacts, while also addressing climate action (SDG 13) through environmentally conscious practices. - In urban contexts, sustainable infrastructure contributes to creating sustainable cities and communities (SDG 11), ensuring well-connected and resilient urban spaces that promote equality (SDG 10) by reducing disparities in accessibility to essential services, education, and employment opportunities..