The Forgotten Half: Maintaining Infrastructure

Opening a new bridge or highway makes headlines. Maintaining existing infrastructure rarely does. Yet maintenance is just as important, and often neglected.

Why maintenance gets neglected

• Visibility: politicians gain more credit for new projects than for repairs.
• Budget pressure: maintenance is easy to cut when money is tight, because damage appears slowly.
• Fragmented responsibility: roads may belong to different agencies, and no one is clearly accountable.
• Lack of data on asset condition.

The costs of neglect

• Deferred maintenance makes repairs much costlier later. A small crack left unfixed can lead to major reconstruction.
• Safety: poorly maintained bridges, roads and railway tracks can collapse or cause accidents. The 2022 collapse of a suspension bridge in Morbi, Gujarat, which killed over 130 people, raised national concern about maintenance and oversight.
• Lost benefits: potholed roads slow traffic and damage vehicles.

Studies of road maintenance in several countries suggest that each rupee spent on timely maintenance can save several rupees in later repairs.

Better approaches

• Asset management systems that track condition and plan maintenance.
• Performance-based contracts, where contractors are paid for keeping roads in good condition over years.
• Dedicated maintenance funds, often financed by fuel levies or tolls.
• Lifecycle costing: considering maintenance costs when choosing designs.
• Regular inspections, including of bridges and dams. India’s Dam Safety Act, 2021 set up a framework for inspecting dams.

HAM and PPPs

Models like HAM and PPPs that bundle construction with long-term maintenance help, because the builder bears the cost of poor quality.

Module recap

Infrastructure is not just about building. Good planning, financing, land, delivery, measurement and maintenance together determine whether infrastructure truly serves people for decades.