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Road transport minister Nitin Gadkari said India must develop world-class infrastructure to achieve its target of becoming a $5 trillion economy and the third largest in the world, as the prime minister envisions.
To meet this goal, priority is being given to four key sectors including water, power, transport and communication, Gadkari said in his keynote address at the ET’s World Leaders Forum on Friday.
As the transport minister, Gadkari said he is laying emphasis on upgrading infrastructure to global standards in an environment-friendly and cost-effective way.
“The strategy, going forward, is to develop multiple access-controlled green highways, ropeways and tunnels across the length and breadth of the country for better and faster connectivity between cities,” Gadkari said, adding that this in turn will reduce the logistics cost, making Indian products more competitive.
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Citing a recent study by IIM Bangalore, IIT Madras and IIT Kanpur, Gadkari said India’s logistics cost has come down to 10% from 16%, compared with 8% in China and 12% in the US and European nations, due to construction of good-quality roads.
“While there is already a 6% reduction in logistics cost, I am confident that before the end of December this year, our logistics cost will come down to single digit or 9% and will benefit the nation in a big way,” he said.
Gadkari said his ministry’s priority is to build a pollution-free and cost-effective public transport network in the country.
“First tender for flash charging buses has been given to Tata Motors and the pilot run will be done in Nagpur,” he said, adding that the cost of travel will be 30% less compared with diesel, while services will be comparable to facilities in an airplane.
“Besides, we are also working on a mass rapid transport system from Dhaula Kuan in Delhi to Gurgaon to decongest that stretch and have received six proposals, including hyperloop, which are under consideration,” he said.
Expressing concern over India’s fossil fuel import worth ₹22 lakh crore, Gadkari said the government is working on hydrogen as a fuel, different kinds of biofuels, as well as alternative fuels and flex engines.
“With hydrogen and other biofuels, we aim to become an energy exporting nation instead of an energy importing country now,” he said, adding that work is on to address the twin challenges of development of hydrogen filling stations and transport of the fuel.
On the automobile industry, Gadkari said the sector is poised to become No. 1 in the world over the next five years from being the third biggest now – industry size is pegged at ₹22 lakh crore – behind the US (₹78 lakh crore) and China (₹49 lakh crore).
“Our automobile industry is doing great. From electric engines to the development of flex engines, research is being done on all new engine types and green fuel options, as we aim to make India’s automobile industry the number one in the world in five years,” he said.
The minister said that “growth of the automobile sector will boost the overall economic growth of the country as the sector is the highest employment generator, is a top revenue generator for the government, and has a high stake in exports”.
According to Gadakri, India’s agriculture is fast diversifying to the energy and power sector, a transition that will help the country become self-reliant, reduce pollution and add to the income of farmers.
“The transport sector accounts for 40% of pollution. So, efforts are on to come up with electric buses, flex engine vehicles, vehicles running on biofuels like ethanol and methanol and other alternate fuels to cut down on emissions,” he said.
Gadkari said that while development is the top priority, the government is focusing on three pillars – ethics, economy, ecology and environment.
“To protect the ecology and environment, the road ministry is working towards development of bamboo crash barriers, has used over 80 lakh tonnes of municipal waste to construct roads and has made pre-case technology mandatory as we focus on eco-friendly technology for road construction,” he said.
On the increase in road accidents and casualties, he said that despite initiatives to improve road engineering and automobile engineering, his ministry has failed to reduce the number of road accidents in the country.
“There are five lakh accidents in our country and about 1,80,000 deaths, out of which 66% deaths are in the 18-34 age bracket,” he said, adding that the road ministry is working on rectifying 40,000 black spots, besides making use of airbags and helmets mandatory.
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