The economic meltdown led to a sluggish infrastructure growth in India. In July of the current financial year, the country reported a 1.2% infrastructure growth as against a robust 6.1% growth in July 2000. This prompted the Finance Minister to exclusively focus on infrastructure development in the Union Budget 2009-10 and to set a target of increasing infrastructure investment to 9% of the GDP by 2014. To expedite this, Kamal Nath, the Minister of Road Transport and Highways, is actively pushing for mega projects to attract global players.
These mega projects will build highways of over 500 km, involve contracts worth Rs 4,000-5,000 crore and a concession period within a 30-50 year range. Apart from this, Mr Nath has also set an ambitious target to build 20 km of highways per day.
“Infrastructure growth is critical to sustain a country’s economic growth, especially during a downturn. Considering this, the Road Transport Minister is doing a fairly commendable job by taking up mega projects as they will attract international players in the highways sector,” says N C Roy, Proprietor of Ober Construction Enterprises (P) Ltd, a mid-sized construction firm in Kolkata.
 Mega projects to spur infrastructure growth
Mega road projects demand huge investments, high experience, latest technologies and innovative approach. All these factors have definitely created a huge opportunity for foreign contractors and investors to enter the lucrative Indian highways sector, which in turn will spur infrastructure growth in the country. Moreover, the Road and Transport Minister’s announcement that the foreign players will have to engage Indian firms for the projects has given the sector an additional boost. This is because the declaration is sure to pave the way for a key learning session for the Indian players involved in such projects.
Initially, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways plans to take up the six-laning of the 558-km Kishangarh-Udaipur-Ahmedabad section for an estimated cost of Rs 4,284 crore and a concession period of 30-50 years.
“Apart from bringing in foreign investments and international practices, mega projects also help to generate new employment opportunities, thereby enhancing the country’s growth on a whole,” opines Rakesh Jain, Proprietor of Ruby Steel, a mid-sized construction firm in Mumbai.
Going forward, the target of building 20 km of highways per day from the current 2 km of roads per day and renewed foreign as well as domestic investments will speed up development in the Indian highways sector. This in turn will largely contribute to the country’s infrastructure growth.
Jeeta Bandopadhyay |
