Pvt participation in road projects to stay: Gujarat CM

Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said with a build-operate-transfer (BOT) Act in place, the state government will continue the practice of involving the private sector in infrastructure projects of constructing roads.

The Ahmedabad-Mehsana toll road and the Vadodara-Halol toll road are examples where the private sector has constructed roads of 67 kms and 32 kms, respectively.

Besides, two railway over bridges and three bridges across the Watrak, Mahi and Narmada rivers too have been completed on a BOT basis in the state over the past two or three years.

"Gujarat today has arguably the best road network in the state and 98.50 per cent of cities, towns and villages are connected by roads. We have adopted the BOT method for providing world-class roads and that has worked well. The state government will continue to adopt this model for developing roads," the chief minister said.

Earlier, state minister for roads and buildings I K Jadeja said 17,000 of the total 18,000 villages in the state have already been connected with a road network.

"While the process of obtaining clearance from the forest department is on in some cases, the work on laying roads for those where clearance has been received is on," he said.

Jadeja said the two major projects of laying roads between Ahmedabad to Mehsana and Vadodara to Halol are examples of how the private sector can help in infrastructure development.

"The private sector has constructed roads and bridges worth close to Rs 600 crore in the state in the past three years alone," the minister said.

He also listed down the progress being made for widening and strengthening of the existing state highways and national highways with the help of loans from the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank.

Jadeja said over 2,000 villages of Gujarat have benefited from the funds made available through the Pradhan mantri Gram Sadak Yojna.

Modi said the main objective behind developing roads should be to ensure that they are commercially viable as well.

"If the Railways looks at the commercial viability aspect before laying rails, why should this not be extended to roads as well," Modi said.

State roads and buildings secretary S S Rathore said Gujarat accounts for one of the highest traffic in the country and this is evident from the consumption of petrol and diesel in the state.

"Ten per cent of the plan outlay for the state has been earmarked for road development and our aim is not to compete with the best roads in India, but in the world," Rathore said.