Road Transport and Highways Minister Mr Nitin Gadkari Road Transport and Highways Ministry said that retail investors can participate in infrastructure building by investing in Invits and get about eight per cent returns. He also said that the Ministry will launch India's first insurance scheme for providing guarantee for construction projects. This announcement comes in the backdrop of India looking to build 26 Expressways, multimodal logistics parks, funicular railway in Ladakh, 35 multimodal logistic parks, 670 wayside amenities, 28 emergency landing facilities and 260 ropeway and cable cars, among others.
India has seen a sharp increase in highway development to 1.47 lakh km up sharply from 91,000 km in 2014. The Minister called for developing indigenous, affordable models of construction without compromising on quality. We have to improve quality and reduce the cost, said the Minister, adding that ethics, ecology and environment should not be compromised. A project to develop bio-bitumen is underway using rice straw that will replace the imported bitumen used for constructing roads. The Minister added that on 19th December, Highway Ministry will launch India's first ever surety bonds (an insurance product) for project implementation. The surety bonds will boost liquidity in infrastructure sector by freeing the contractors' working capital stuck in bank guarantees, the Minister said. Highway project developers were facing difficulties in getting bank guarantees for their projects.
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