Lack of dispute resolution, policy delays in road sector resulted in flight of capital: Gadkari

Minister bats for private investments in inland waterways transport; tries to shore up investor confidence

Lack of dispute resolution mechanisms, delayed policy decisions and project price escalation may have undermined investor confidence and resulted in flight of capital,  but Union Road Transport, Highways Shipping Minister Nitin Gadkari wants to change all that.

Addressing a session on ‘Importance of surface and water transportation in India’s growth’ at Ficci’s 87th annual general meeting here on Saturday, he told the private sector for increased investments in the inland water transport (IWT) sector. He emphasised the need for eschewing road and rail transport for environmental and economic reasons.

Multiple projects in the public-private partnership (PPP) mould have seen interminable delays and resulted in shaky investor confidence. With PM Narendra Modi’s ‘Make in India’ campaign, there has been an increased effort to shore up investor confidence with pro-business measures.

“China’s share in transporting goods through waterways is over 44 per cent while that of India’s is three per cent. IWT needs private investments. It’s the cheapest and most efficient means of transportation,” he said.

IWT’s greater focus involves the states of UP, Bihar and West Bengal. Incidentally, all three states go to the polls in the next two years, give or take a few months. Speaking on the issues of renewing trust in the development of road infrastructure, he said private investors needed a climate of certainty to invest.  “We are working towards it. We have projects worth over Rs 5,00,000 crore that are viable,” said Gadkari.

“Projects worth Rs 6,000 crore with the National Highways Authority of

India are pending,” he said. “We have settled 75 per cent of the cases, but there’s still a lot of work left to be done,” Gadkari said.

When asked about the implicit dichotomy on his assurances about ensuring speedy project clearances with very little clarity on land acquisition issues, Gadkari said the government is figuring out the way forward.

Communications and IT minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said the  Digitial India Programme has received investment  proposals worth  Rs 18,000 crore, of which Rs 4,000 crore investment has been approved.

The programme, to be implemented in phases from the current year till 2018, would ensure that Government services are available to citizens electronically.