In a renewed push for major US investments in India’s infrastructure sector, Union Minister of Road Transport, Highways and Shipping Nitin Gadkari has sought to highlight the new regime of transparency and fast-track clearances.
“Prime Minister Narendra Modi has made infrastructure development the top-most priority of the Government,” Gadkari told a gathering of American investors here, noting: “We are committed to improving the country’s road, highways, and port connectivity in a time-bound, result oriented, corruption-free and transparent manner that includes e-governance and fast-tracking decision-making.”
With the pace of road construction touching an all-time high of 20 km per day and plans afoot to more than double it to 41 km per day next year, Gadkari termed it “a golden opportunity to invest in India”. He dwelt on financing mechanisms under the PPP mode for construction of new highways, policies for logistics parks, modernization of existing roads and building new traffic systems according high priority to road safety.
Doubts about India’s investment climate and hazards of doing business are a thing of the past, he said during a media interaction later, noting that there are no roadblocks any longer with respect to his own transportation sector. As he put it, 95 per cent of issues that used to bedevil investors earlier, be it about woes of land acquisition or slow Government procedures, have all been resolved.
Gadkari, who also held a meeting with his US Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx, said the Obama administration has expressed its readiness to cooperate with India in its push for road safety.
Conceding India’s unenviable record of road safety, with over 500,000 accidents and 150,000 deaths annually, Gadkari said he was gratified that Secretary Fox has promised extensive cooperation in this area, including sharing of manuals of US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to help bring about standardization of safety codes.
At the roundtable of investors, organized by the US India Business Council, senior executives of US and Indian companies that included TransAsia Infrastructure, Uber, Bentley Systems, Tata, Caterpillar, Moody’s, DlZ Corporation and Texas Instruments participated in the deliberations. Apart from road construction, India’s new push for development of ports and inland waterways was also discussed.
Alok Srivastava, Additional Secretary in the Ministry of Shipping, shared details on the flagship Sagarmala Programme, while Rohit Kumar Singh, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, outlined specific investment opportunities in the highways sector.
At a time when India needs a whopping $1 trillion investment for developing new roads, ports, rail lines, and airports over the next few years, American firms can contribute to the robust growth with both expertise and capital, said USIBC president Mukesh Aghi.