The lost confidence in Indian infrastructure is back with the private sector showing a renewed interest in road development, and there will not be any stalled national highway projects in the next one month, Union Minister for Road Transport, Highways and Shipping Nitin Gadkari has said.
“When we came to power, the road projects through public-private partnership (PPP) were shut. Now, for five projects we have got bidders through this route,” he said at a press conference to mark the one year of the NDA government.
He said there was an interest in the projects for the Solapur-Bijapur, Shivpuri-Devas-Goa, Raipur-Bilaspur, Hospet-Chitradurg and Delhi-Mukarma highways through the PPP route.
The Ministry was planning to award road projects, worth Rs.3.50 lakh crore, in the next six months. It had initially planned to award 37,000 km of roads, through 1,231 projects, on an outlay of Rs.2.25 lakh crore. “The Finance Minister requested us to increase the target, because of the role infrastructure plays in the growth of the economy. So we are working on a new target,” Mr. Gadkari said. During 2014-15, the Ministry awarded 8,000 km, and projects covering 4,300 km were executed. The expenditure, both public and private, was around Rs. 45,000 crore, and the Ministry expected it to go up to Rs.1, 15,000 crore during the current year.
Mr. Gadkari said the focus would be on providing better connectivity to places of religious importance. Efforts were being made to start the 1,100-km Chardham project to connect Yamunotri, Gangotri, Kedarnath and Badrinath during Dussehra.
He said plans were on to kick-start Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s pet project Bharat Mala, under which a 5,000-km road network would be built along the borders and coastal areas at a cost of Rs.55,000 crore. As for shipping, he said the focus was on developing inland waterways.Given the large number of projects lined up for the road, transport, highways and shipping sectors, “I am confident that in two years, we will be able to create 25 lakh jobs,” Mr. Gadkari said.
