Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari has 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. Inaugurating virtually the 19th Indo-US Economic Summit of The Indo-American Chamber of Commerce he said the United States of America 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.
Gadkari said our emphasis has been on creating a sustainable business ecosystem with an inclusive growth model. He said we need to encourage out-of-the-box thought process and promote creative agenda to weave new pathways. He said Prime Minister Narendra Modi has set a vision for India to become a 5 trillion dollar economy by 2025.
The Minister emphasized that today, India is one of the fastest growing economies and stands at fifth position in the World. A well-developed infrastructure enhances economic activity, creates new businesses and promotes job creation. He said our Government is investing 1.4 trillion dollars in infrastructure development through National Infrastructure Pipeline.
The Road sector will account for 19% 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. With Gati-Shakti all stakeholders will follow the rule of 3 C’s: Co-operation, Coordination & Communication.
Gadkari said Road infrastructure plays a critical role in the growth of the Indian economy as 70% of goods and nearly 90% 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 Government is dedicatedly working towards expanding National Highway network to 2 lakh kilometers by 2025, he added.
The Minister said we are constructing 27 Greenfield Expressways of 10,000 Kms across the country with an investment of Rs. 5 lakh Crores that is about 60 billion dollars. He said these corridors result in 14% reduction in travel distance between the key economic centers and this would further ensure reduction in Transportation cost by 2.5%.
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. Gadkari said Government is formulating a new policy called ‘Tree Bank’ for Tree Cutting & Tree Transplantation. As per policy, Authorities such as NHAI, NHIDCL, Airport and Port Authority have to maintain a Tree Bank account having record of planting and felling of trees during project development.
