Gadkari Urges US Investors To Invest In Roads And Highways Projects In India

Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari on Monday (12 September) called for investors from the US to come forward and invest in roads and highways projects in India which is a gold-mine for investors, according to an official release.

Inaugurating the 19th Indo-US Economic Summit of The Indo-American Chamber of Commerce, he said the US and India are prominent democracies of the world with strong bilateral relations.

He said we are natural partners and have lot to contribute for mutual growth. Both the countries have always shown mutual trust, respect and co-operation on the social, economic and strategic front.

The theme chosen this year- “The New Agenda for next 25 years”, will set the roadmap for strengthening our relationship, he added.

According to a Road Transport and Highways Ministry release, Gadkari said our emphasis has been on creating a sustainable business ecosystem with an inclusive growth model.

He said the government is investing $1.4 trillion in infrastructure development through National Infrastructure Pipeline.

The Road sector will account for 19 per cent of this capital expenditure over period of 2019 to 2025.

He said the Government has launched the Prime Minister National Gati Shakti Master Plan for holistic and integrated infrastructure development in the country.

Gadkari said Road infrastructure plays a critical role in the growth of the Indian economy as 70 per cent of goods and nearly 90 per cent of passenger traffic uses the road network to commute.

In 2014, we had around 91,000 Kms of National Highway network. At present, this Network has reached around 1.47 Lakh Kms.

The minister said we are constructing 27 Greenfield Expressways of 10,000 Kms across the country with an investment of Rs 5 lakh crore that is about $60 billion, he said.

He said these corridors result in 14 per cent reduction in travel distance between the key economic centres and this would further ensure reduction in transportation cost by 2.5 per cent.

In addition, there would be saving of around 110 crore liters of fuel and reduction of carbon dioxide emission by 250 crore kg every year, he said.

The Minister said the government is bringing innovative and investor friendly products like InvIT to allow retail investors participate in the funding drive.

We are designing the products so that retail investors can get good annual Returns which are more than the Fixed Deposit rates, he said.

He said the chamber should take a lead and identify areas where our talented human resources can contribute to design best Financial Instruments to enable investments in Indian Infra Space.

We have well-developed framework for Public-Private-Partnerships (PPP) in the highway sector, the minister said.

Asian Development Bank has ranked India at the first spot in PPP operational maturity and also designated India as a developed market for PPPs.

All project documentation, contractual decisions and approvals are now being done through the digital portal, he added.