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National Highways length to be Doubled: Nitin Gadkari
Oct 07, 2016

Shri Nitin Jairam Gadkari, Minister of Road Transport, Highways and Shipping of India, stated that the length of national highways is slated to double from 95,000 kilometres to 2,00,000 kilometers. He summarized the initiatives and reforms of the government for improving existing infrastructure, creating new infrastructure and inviting investments as also various models of Public Private Partnership. The Minister was speaking at the India Economic Summit organized by the World Economic Forum in partnership with the Confederation of Indian Industry.


Some other initiatives include major access control highways to reduce congestion by 50%, and Hybrid Annuity Model for attracting private investments. He specifically focused on revamping Inland Waterways of rivers like Ganga and Brahmaputra which would help not only in reducing traffic on roads but also create a sustainable and cost effective mode of transportation for major corporations and a tourist attraction.


Mr Nick Chism, Global Chair, Infrastructure, Government and Healthcare and Deputy Head, Global Sales and Markets, KPMG, UK, stressed that India is now an important country for any foreign company looking to invest in infrastructure due to its demographic advantages, growing innovative technologies and economic progress. The focus has now shifted from China to India. He said that affordable, sustainable urbanisation is the key for successful infrastructure and the decisions taken by the government would play a vital role in the future.


Mr Fred Hochberg, Chairman, Export Import Bank of the United States, USA, said that India is now second to Mexico for exports from USA. With low interest rates and new initiatives like building of 175 GW capacity of Renewable power, the bank would invest further in exports to India.


Mr Rana Kapoor, Founder, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, YES Bank, India, also said that with the current leadership and right policies, he can see two major opportunities in Indian Infrastructure. First, urban infrastructure in the form of Smart Cities with hospitals, schools, affordable housing etc. and second, in transportation and logistics where all the aspects such as roads, highways, ports, railways and airports could be focused on. He stated that with one percent of the Indian GDP being invested in infrastructure, we could potentially create 3.4 million jobs in comparison to 1.5 million in USA and 1.3 million in Brazil.


Mr Sunil Kanoria, Vice Chairman, SREI, Infrastructure Finance, said that the PPP model is based on the strength of both the parties entering in the partnership and India’s strength is its capital. He highlighted brownfield assets with reduced risks and greenfield assets as the optimum areas of investment in India.


Mr Shekhar Gupta, Editor-in-Chief, ThePrint moderated the session and highlighted that Infrastructure was a beacon of opportunity for the world. The session highlighted changing policies for creating bankable projects, derisking of banks, dispute resolution, bankruptcy law and progressive government, which make India a preferred destination for private and foreign investment.


New Delhi

6 October 2016

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