Union Minister for Shipping, Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari on Saturday said the profitability of the Indian port sector by the end of current year will reach around Rs.6,000 crore.
The profit would be invested for creating assets to spur up growth, he said.
Addressing a session at the PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry here, the minister said in the next five years the contribution of highways and shipping sector to national GDP would rise to two percent from current insignificant level.
With poised growth, the roads, highways and shipping sectors would be able to create 50 lakh employment opportunities, he said.
Gadkari said the infrastructure sector in India would witness massive changes and transformation in next few years as by then many four-lane roads and highways would be converted into eight-lane ones as also a large number of national highways be turned into expressways.
He said the necessary permissions and approvals for undertaking such assignments have been completed and hoped the bill relating to making 111 water-ways would be cleared in the winter session of parliament.