Union Minister Nitin Gadkari today urged Korean businesses to invest in India's roads, waterways and other infrastructure segments, saying plans to build 12 expressways at a cost of Rs 1-lakh crore offer huge opportunities for them.
On the fourth day of his visit to Korea, the road transport and shipping minister addressed the Korea-India Infrastructure Cooperation Forum in Seoul today which was participated by leading members from the infrastructure business of both the countries.
"India has plans to construct 12 expressways with an investment of over Rs 1 lakh crore," the minister said in a statement issued by the shipping ministry here.
This, he said, would presents huge opportunities for Korean businesses.
Similarly, developing the national waterways for commercial navigation in India and the plans to develop shipbuilding, fisheries and the port sector will also create investment opportunities, the water resources, river development and Ganga rejuvenation minister said.
Gadkari also reiterated Indian government's commitment to facilitating all foreign businesses that are keen to invest in India.
The minister earlier met with some key Korean financial sector representatives to explore ways of greater involvement in financing projects such as inter-linking of rivers, highway construction, developing logistics parks and shipbuilding in India.
"An important part of the cooperation would be to enhance training and discussions among experts from both sides. Indian highway engineers and shipbuilding engineers can be trained at specialised training institutions of Republic of Korea to expose them to the systems in place there. Korean companies expressed keenness to work on the Nagpur Mumbai expressway project," the statement said.
Gadkari also met Korean Minister for Land and Infrastructure (MOLIT) Kim Mee Hyun in Seoul today.
The two ministers discussed the prospects of cooperation in developing smart highways, the statement said.
"Hyun said that Republic of Korea is committed to enhance cooperation based on the commitments made during the visit of PM Modi in 2015. A draft memorandum of cooperation in the infra sector is likely to be finalised soon. This will provide a sound institutional framework for enhancing bilateral engagement," the statement said.
In a separate meeting with the Korean Minister for Environment Kim Eungyung, Gadkari discussed bilateral cooperation in the area of river cleaning and rejuvenation, it added.
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