Stating that private partnership is needed to speed up projects in the country as Government does not have money, Union Surface Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari on Tuesday said people will have to pay toll if they want good roads even as he made it clear that the toll system would stay to generate money so that the public money could be used to implement road network in rural regions.
Gadkari informed the Lok Sabha that his ministry is working on a new green expressway from New Delhi to Mumbai, which can be covered in 12 hours. It will pass through most backward and tribal areas of Rajasthan, Gujarat and Maharashtra and also save Rs 16,000 crore in land acquisition.
Responding to demands of several MPs, he said he will consider if school buses or state transport buses can be exempt from tolls. The country has a shortage of over 25 lakh drivers and he told MPs that he will open a driving training centre in each state. After Minister's reply, NK Premchandran ( Revolutionary Socialist Party) withdrew all of his cut-motions.
Replying to a discussion on demands for grants for the Road Transport and Highways ministry in the house , the minister said land acquisition was an issue in implementing several projects in West Bengal, Bihar ,Kerala and Goa. He asked MPs from West Bengal to complete land acquisitions and encroachments so that he could give green signal to the pending road projects in the state.
The Minister said the Government has built 40,000 kilometres of highway in the last five years.
Amid concerns expressed by some members over collection of toll in different parts of the country, Gadkari said, “Toll zindagi bhar band nahi ho sakta... Kam zyaada ho sakta hai. Toll ka janamdata main hoon... (Toll system can never end though the rates may vary from time to time. Toll is my brainchild.”
“If you want good services, you have to pay for it. Government does not have money...,” he said adding the toll tax concept was first generated in Maharashtra when he was the State Minister.
Noting that more than 400 projects worth 3.85 lakh crore were closed when he assumed charge of the ministry in 2014, Gadkari said the Modi government saved Non-performing assets worth 3 lakh crore during the past five years by re-starting work on these projects.
“There were 403 projects pending when Narendra Modi came to power involving a cost of 3,85,000 crore. It is a great achievement of Indian government that we saved bankers of Rs 3 lakh crore of NPAs and now 90 per cent of projects are moving fast,” he said.
Gadkari referred to former US President John F Kennedy's quote that “American roads are not good because America is rich, but America is rich because American roads are good” to emphasise on building good quality of highways and roads across the country to boost its economy.
Expressing anguish over deaths caused by road accidents, he said his ministry had identified 786 black spots and added that poor engineering is one of the main reasons for them.
Gadkari said his ministry is working to make Delhi pollution-free and cited pollution has come down by 32 per cent due to various efforts, including building peripheral roads to prevent trucks bound for other states from entering the national capital. All new vehicles from April 1, 2020 will comply with Euro 6 emission norms, he said.