Will ensure building of 30 km roads a day in two years, says Nitin Gadkari

Having set a target to speed up daily road construction to 30 km, Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari on Wednesday sounded confident of meeting the goal.

"This is my target. I am doing my best to meet it and I am confident. I do not know what will happen in the future. Our plan is to increase the speed to building 30 km of roads every day as compared to less than three km currently. I will ensure this change in two years," Gadkari said during a discussion on Indian infrastructure at the India Economic Summit.

The BJP-led NDA government has awarded road projects for 3,419 km since it came to power in May and aims to award a total of 8,500 km in the current financial year.

Disputes involving 2,384 km of projects have been resolved.

Gadkari said the government has formed a committee to review the model concession agreement for road development. "The present agreement is very much against contractors and bankers. The new model agreement will be built on international standards," he said.

Ajit Gulabchand, Chairman of Hindustan Construction Company, said contracts must have a credible dispute resolution mechanism and must be followed in spirit.

"Sometimes land acquisition does not happen even as agreements have been signed. The delays increase costs by as much as 50 per cent. This has to change. You can't stop things halfway. It has consequences and also leads to loss of jobs," he said.

Gadkari also said the government is working on an "integrated multimodal transport policy" to bring uniformity in taxation and other regulations across states.

Blaming the judiciary and the media for stalling work on projects, the minister said "a microscopic minority is opposing development in the country," he said, referring to environmental protests surrounding infrastructure projects. "We need ecology but we also need development. There has to be equilibrium."

The minister said he has written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the issue of high financing costs for infrastructure projects. He said his ministry is working closely with the ministries of railway and environment to speed up projects.

Mitsubishi Corporation's Chairman Yorihiko Kojima said his company will focus on the power and food sectors for investments in coming years in India.

"It is good news that the two governments are now working closely," he said, adding that Modi's recent visit to Japan has further added to the positivity on investment sentiment from Japanese companies in India.

Mitsubishi, Japan's largest trading house, may be looking at a ten-fold jump in its India investments over the next five years.

"Our current investments in India stand at $300 million. I hope this rises 10 times in five years," Masakazu Sakakida, Chairman and Managing Director of Mitsubishi Corp in India, told reporters.

He said automobile, food and natural resources will be the three key areas of future investments in India.