Focus on transparency, innovation in the PPP road projects: Gadkari
24 Jul 2014
The government will focus on 'cooperation, coordination and communication' and will fast track decisions in infrastructure projects, but will not bid out any highway project without acquiring at least 80 per cent land for it, minister of road transport and highways and rural development Nitin Gadkari said on Wednesday.
Delivering the inaugural address at the `India PPP Summit 2014' organised by FICCI, the minister said around 300 road projects are to be bid out within the next 5-10 years after securing all necessary regulatory clearances.
The minister said that a 'Bank of Ideas and Innovation' will be made operational in August, wherein the private sector can chip in with new ideas as to how to go about in infrastructure development.
Further, he said, the government is thinking about post qualification of financial bids in PPP projects, which will add to transparency in the PPP framework.
''Time is the most important thing in infrastructure and business and delays cost the country to the tune of Rs15 crore a day. Files are kept pending for months. I have asked highways officials to fast-track decisions and requested the prime minister to issue directions to all officials,'' he said.
The minister said he would be holding a meeting every month as per Prime Minister Narendra Modi's direction to ensure timely clearances.
Gadkari asked the developers to refrain from aggressive bidding for projects as had happened in the past when companies shouldered projects without due clearances, which eventually failed to take off despite financial closures.
The minister urged the private sector not to cut down trees but instead go for transplantation, using latest technologies. He underlined the need of adopting international best practices in construction to reduce the cost of construction and contribute to make projects financially more viable.
The minister assured that all pending issues in National Highways development projects currently underway, will be resolved, positively by 15 August.