AsiaPorts and Logistics

New Delhi pledges $160bn investments in shipping and highways

New Delhi: Surface transport and shipping minister Nitin Gadkari has said that the Indian government will invest INR5trn ($80bn) each in the shipping and highways sectors by 2019, to change the very face of the country’s basic infrastructure.

“I am sure this will change the face of the basic infrastructure in the five years as projects have already been fast-tracked, while concerted efforts are on to remove all bottlenecks,” Gadkari said in New Delhi on Sunday.

The minister added that the focus would also be on rolling out stalled projects, bringing equity, allotment of terminated schemes, streamlining work and fast-tracking clearances.

“Funds have never been a problem in my ministry, and efforts are on to bring public-private partnership (PPP) investment, foreign direct investment (FDI), involve pension funds and attract foreign funds,” he said. “Besides, we have income from the major port trusts and Shipping Corporation of India in dollar terms.”

Apart from the highways sector, the ministry has ambitious plans to convert 101 rivers into inland waterways.

Shirish Nadkarni

Shirish Nadkarni is a management consultant and freelance international journalist, who has been writing on all spheres of Indian business for the past three decades for a number of reputed overseas publications. An avid sportsman, Nadkarni has represented India in international veterans' badminton since 1997, and was the 55+ age group doubles world champion in 2005.
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