LDCE
2015 - Southern Railway
·
A
social cost benefit analysis is a systematic and cohesive method to survey all
the impacts caused by an development project or other policy measure.
·
Also
known as Economic analysis.
·
A
decision-making strategy - assessing the
impact of Investments/Projects on the Society as a whole.
·
It
evaluates not just the financial benefits/costs (profits /losses), but all
economical benefits/costs (pollution, health, safety, travel times etc)
·
Social
Benefit - if it is positive impact
·
Social
Cost - if it is negative impact
·
Main
objective: To attach a price to as many
effects as possible in order to uniformly weigh all the mixed (i.e., positive
and negative) effects.
·
Example:
PRS (Passenger Reservation System) project in Indian Railways.
Ø PRS started as a pilot project in 1985 on two trains between
Delhi and Chennai with a few reservation centres in Delhi. In 2003–04, it was
operational at 1,200 centres, had 4,000 terminals, covered 3,000 trains and
handled one million reservations per day.
Ø Financial benefits: cost savings, staff reduction and
increase in revenue.
Ø Economic benefits: Improved customer service, higher quality
of information, improved work environment, streamlined operations, and higher
employee self-esteem and morale
Ø “from anywhere to anywhere reservations”,
Ø With IRCTC online ticketing, the booking of train tickets is
much more easier.
Ø An approximate estimate that about Rs. 250 crore was spent on
the PRS up to the CONCERT stage. At
proposal stage, it was observed as negative Rate of Return from the point of
financial returns.
Ø A very significant intangible benefit is national pride.
Ø The Indian Railways management and staff are justifiably
proud that they have successfully implemented a world-class, state of-the-art
system in a developing country.
Ø The success of the railway PRS provided the launch pad for
India’s software industry exports.
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