You are the officer in charge of development planning of a state whose capital is the technology hub of the country. However, the capital city is overcrowded and marred by traffic congestion. A group of top MNCs have approached you and showed their interest in expanding their operations in the capital provided that the highway connecting the SEZ to airport is widened. This has been cited as an important business requirement. The expansion of MNC operations is expected to create numerous jobs and would bring in huge revenues to the State. At the same time, the road connectivity in rest of the state, especially the rural areas, is abysmal and is in need of urgent attention. Media has been highlighting the incidents of deaths due to delay in hospitalization and other such issues which can be directly attributed to poor condition of roads. As the officer in charge of the development planning you find that the road widening project will entail huge cost and would severely curtail the rural road development programme currently being undertaken by the state. 20 (a) What challenges do you face as the officer in charge, in this situation? (b) State your priorities and discuss how you plan to achieve them in the context of given challenges.

a) Challenges faced:

1. The challenge of balancing development objectives with social need of better rural roads.
2. The challenge of efficient allocation of resources.
3. Challenge of poor health facilities which also contribute to deaths due to long distances between people and healthcare.
4. Challenge of creation of more jobs for revenue which will boost State's resources in maintenance of other roads.

b) In the present situation, my priorities will be in the following order:- (A) Betterment of rural roads

• By allocating effective capital towards procurement of long lasting quality construction material.

(B) Focus on healthcare

• Making primary health centers and sub centers better so that people do not have to travel long distances for healthcare.

(C) Maximising revenue through MNC expansion and spending on highway

• This comes third as the MNCs already have presence in the State. The issue is of their expansion, and not setting up.
• The returns are also going to be long term, and therefore the need to make rural road & health infrastructure better is more pressing.

How I plan to achieve this :-

1. Firstly, I will earmark funds for rural road development. Work will first be carried in areas where maximum number of deaths have resulted. I will personally oversee this work to ensure that good quality material is procured to build roads that last for a long time.

2. Secondly, I will get a written proposal of expansion from the MNCs. This because presently they have only showed their interest, without giving any assurance. Spending a huge amount of funds for highway expansion in the absence of written assurance would not be prudent.

3. Thirdly, I will request the MNCs to direct their Corporate Social Responsibility activities towards quality healthcare in the rural region. I will back this with my own effective implementation of government schemes.

4. Lastly, upon getting an assurance from the MNCs, I will begin work on the highway expansion in a phased manner.