Nitin Gadkari stated that India is building world-class infrastructure to achieve its goal of becoming a $5 trillion economy and the world's third largest. The road network will be number one globally in the coming years, with a focus on quality, cost, and pan-India development. The ministry is working to reduce pollution and ease travel time.
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New Delhi: India is developing world-class infrastructure that will help achieve the country's dream of becoming a $5 trillion economy and the third largest in the world, road transport and highways minister Nitin Gadkari said.
Addressing the second edition of the Economic Times World Leaders Forum on Friday, Gadkari said his ministry is working on multiple fronts to ensure rapid development of quality infrastructure that will have a ripple effect on the country's overall economy.
Focus on reducing travel time
“Development of a world-class road network will aid in economic development, give a fillip to tourism and generate employment and fetch higher revenues for the government, while leading to development of real estate as well as industrial clusters along national highways,” he said.
India’s road network will be number one in the world in the coming years, given the way in which infrastructure has expanded in the country over the past decade, with the stress on quality, cost and pan-India development, the minister said.
“We are transparent, time-bound, result-oriented and corruption free,” Gadkari said.
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The thrust is on reducing pollution and easing travel time.
“With a focus on development of biofuels and flex engines, diversification of agriculture into energy and power, rapid expansion of accesscontrolled express highways, developing cost-effective and efficient public transport, we hope to substantially reduce the travel time as well as logistics cost in the country,” he said.
Citing recent studies, Gadkari said India’s logistics cost is down to 10% of the total cost but he aims to bring it down to 9% before the end of December, putting Indian goods on a more competitive level globally.
Reiterating his ambitious vision for the automobile sector to become a world leader, Gadkari said the industry has grown from Rs 12 lakh crore to Rs 22 lakh crore, making it the third largest in the world behind only the US (Rs 78 lakh crore) and China (Rs 49 lakh crore).
“The way we are working on biofuels and alternative fuels as well as development of electric and flex engines, I can say that in five years we will be number one in the automobile industry in the world,” Gadkari said.
“The automobile industry plays an important role in the economic growth of the country. It provides jobs to 40 million people, is one of the highest revenue contributors to GST and accounts for the highest exports from India.” The automobile industry’s expansion will benefit the entire economy, he said.
