In today's era of globalization, infrastructure development is a precursor for the economic development of any country. The availability of adequate infrastructure of international standard makes an economy globally competitive. In the process, a proper balance is needed both for the physical and social infrastructure development. The inadequate funds allocated by the government pose one of the major roadblocks for the infrastructure development, paving the way for the private players to have a greater role in the development of quality and sustainable infrastructure with a realistic approach and cost-effective solution. Public-Private Partnership (PPP) is the new mantra which is gaining momentum in the development of infrastructure services. India has achieved success to some extent in the recent years in the telecom, roads, ports, and airports sectors in the form of capacity addition and enhancement of efficiency with international quality services. Though some headway has been made on the physical infrastructure front, the social infrastructure which includes health and education still remains underdeveloped. Rural areas are often perceived to generate a low demand for infrastructure services, which is a major constraint for the viability of rural infrastructure projects. Since the Indian economy is growing at 8% and is aiming to achieve an average growth rate of 9% in the next five years, there is an urgent need for an inclusive growth by identifying the viable alternatives of infrastructure development towards bridging the gap between demand and supply.

The present issue deals with topics of more relevance ranging from reform in urban water supply sector in India, to schedule performance of construction projects, fleet management and efficiency of major Indian ports.

The share of urban population in India in 2001 was only 28% of the total population and is expected to reach 48% by 2051. Urban water supply is a crucial element of infrastructure, to support a sustained and equitable urban economic development throughout the country. The paper "Reforming Urban Water Supply Sector in India", by Ramakrishna Nallathiga, stresses the urgent need for a series of reformsInstitutional, Financial, and Governance. It also emphasizes the involvement of private sector in the form of PPPs. The paper also suggests certain reforms for improving the service delivery system.

Despite the steps undertaken by the Government in the last few years to meet the burgeoning demand for infrastructure services, the results are still not encouraging. By nature, infrastructure projects are associated with inherent characteristics of huge investments, long gestation periods and high risk, which ultimately lead to time overrun and cost overrun for most of the projects. Against this background, the authors R Kansal and M C Gupta, in their paper "Schedule Performance of Construction Projects in India", assess the factorsproject related, owner related, contractor related, consultant related, design related, material related, labor related, plant/equipment related, and external factorswhich contribute in a big way to the time overrun of projects.

With the growing urbanization and the rural-urban migration, there is a tremendous pressure on the urban transport system. Traffic congestion has assumed critical dimensions in many metropolitan cities due to a massive increase in the number of personal vehicles, inadequate road space and paucity of public transport. A good public transport system is a vital component of a sustainable urban transport system. The paper, "Fleet Management of Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation", by S Mohan, examines the three aspects of fleet managementfleet composition, fleet utilization and test for equality of proportion. It throws light on the factors that should be considered before taking any decision regarding fleet acquisition and suggests the replacement of over-aged buses in time for better efficiency.

The sea-mode of transport has acquired global prominence and popularity as the cheapest mode of transport. The requirement of an efficient port system cannot be underscored in an era of export-led growth emphasizing international trade. The authors K M Chudasama and Kiran Pandya, in their paper "Measuring Efficiency of Indian Ports: An Application of Data Envelopment Analysis", measure the efficiency of 12 major Indian ports on the basis of technical efficiency, return to scale performance and the relative efficiency by applying the DEA technique. They also highlight the operational performance indicators in terms of Average Pre-Berthing Time, Average Turn-Around Time, Average Output per Ship Berth Day and Cargo Volume handled.

- Pradeepta Kumar Samanta
Consulting Editor