India’s Next Infrastructure Push Must Prioritise Quality and Safety: CFI

Construction Federation of India (CFI) on Friday said the country’s next phase of development must move beyond simply building projects at greater speed and scale and place equal emphasis on quality, safety, technical excellence and long-term performance. The federation said stronger project preparation, quality-led procurement and lifecycle-focused asset management will be critical as India advances towards its Viksit Bharat 2047 vision.

M. V. Satish, President of CFI and Advisor to the CMD of L&T Ltd., said India has demonstrated its ability to execute complex infrastructure at remarkable scale, but the priority now should be to ensure assets remain safe, durable, resilient and efficient throughout their lifecycle.

India is undertaking infrastructure development on a massive scale, with expressways, metros, railway corridors, airports, ports, tunnels and bridges reshaping connectivity. Projects such as the Chenab Rail Bridge, Anji Khad Bridge and Atal Setu have highlighted Indian engineering capabilities.

The scale of investment also underlines the need for better preparation. MoSPI data showed 1,981 ongoing Central Sector infrastructure projects worth ₹42.78 lakh crore were being monitored across 17 ministries and departments in April 2026, with cumulative expenditure of ₹20.36 lakh crore, or 47.59% of revised costs. Infrastructure projects costing ₹150 crore and above had also recorded a cumulative cost escalation of about ₹5.65 lakh crore.

CFI said many problems begin before construction, with inadequate site investigations, weak Detailed Project Reports (DPRs), incomplete utility mapping, unrealistic estimates and insufficient risk assessment potentially causing redesigns, delays, disputes and cost escalation.

For complex projects, it called for procurement that considers technical capability, experience and lifecycle value, rather than focusing only on the lowest initial bid. Wider and appropriate use of Quality and Cost-Based Selection (QCBS) could help balance technical quality with cost.

CFI also highlighted BIM, GIS, LiDAR, drones, digital twins and AI as tools that can improve planning, design, monitoring and asset management. However, it stressed that technology must strengthen engineering expertise rather than replace professional judgement. Better digital systems are already emerging through MoSPI’s PAIMANA infrastructure-monitoring platform, which supports data-driven project tracking and decision-making.

The federation further urged stakeholders to design infrastructure for decades of performance, with greater emphasis on durability, preventive maintenance, structural health monitoring, climate resilience and timely rehabilitation. It said project success should be judged by lifetime performance rather than construction cost or inauguration alone.

CFI also called for infrastructure failures to trigger wider reviews of design, investigation, procurement, supervision, quality assurance and maintenance, alongside accountability wherever negligence or misconduct is established.

It outlined the required project chain as Better Data → Better DPRs → Better Design → Better Procurement → Better Construction → Better Inspection → Better Maintenance.

As India moves towards Viksit Bharat 2047, CFI said the objective should not be to choose between speed and quality, but to deliver both ensuring that India’s infrastructure is not only bigger, but better, safer and built to last.