Addressing the CII Infrastructure Summit, Nageswaran said India is increasingly witnessing floods and droughts in the same State within a year. “Volatility, and not scarcity, is the new enemy of economic activity,” he said, stressing that water infrastructure should be planned, built and financed just like roads and power.

He called for creating a comprehensive water buffer through greater storage capacity, groundwater recharge, wastewater reuse, desalination in coastal regions, and watershed management inland. “Water security is not a sector sitting beside agriculture, industry and health; it sits underneath all of this,” he said. Nageswaran also criticised the practice of pricing water at virtually zero, saying it encourages waste and discourages investment in water infrastructure. “The thing we call free is the thing we destroy. This is not a paradox. It is a policy choice, and it can be chosen differently,” he remarked.

P Ravichandran, chairman, CII Southern Region and President, Danfoss India, highlighted significant capital was available for investment, but the scale and number of bankable infrastructure projects remained inadequate. Infrastructure projects have to be planned around viable revenue and cashflow models rather than Detailed Project Reports prepared primarily to secure budgetary allocations. Developing projects at a southern region scale could improve their commercial viability, particularly in areas such as renewable energy, logistics, ports and multi-modal connectivity.

“Future-ready infrastructure would have to be integrated, resilient, sustainable and technology-enabled. TN’s next growth gateway need not be confined to one project or location but could comprise a connected network of economic centres. Chennai could be a global business and aviation gateway, Hosur as an advanced manufacturing centre, Coimbatore and Tirupur as engineering and innovation hubs, Tiruchirappalli and Madurai as regional knowledge economies, and Thoothukudi as a port, logistics and renewable-energy gateway,” said MV Satish, advisor to chairman & managing director, L&T Ltd.