INDIA CHANGING ROAD SEC INVESTMENT NORMS: NATH

INDIA CHANGING ROAD SEC INVESTMENT NORMS: NATH
The Economic Times Business Standard

London: The government is changing some of the regulations in the road infrastructure sector to make it more attractive for investors, Minister for Road Transport and Highways Kamal Nath said today.

"We are modifying certain rules to make it much more investment friendly and investment worthy," he said.

Referring to some of the investors, who have sought certain clarifications, Nath said their concerns would be addressed.

The minister also said India plans to change the numbering of the National Highways in the country to make it more scientific, Nath said.

"We are changing the numbers of the National Highways and we are following a scientific pattern of numbering," Nath said after a one-day "Building India: Road Infrastructure Summit" at the St James Crowne Plaza here.

Nath, who was here to attract FDI in the infrastructure development in the country said, "India remains a very attractive destination for foreign investors and the response at the Summit is good." "With the kind of participation at today's Summit, we are quite hopeful."

Nath said he had discussions with some of the major investors and they have assured him that they are looking at India as "one of the best investment friendly countries."

Brahm Dutt, Secretary, Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, said, "the response at the summit has been very encouraging."

Nath said India planned to build 7,000 km roads per annum at the rate of 20km per day. "It will make a visible differences and we expect an investment of USD 10 billion in the next two years," he said.

He said initially there would be 130 mega-projects, which would go up to 320 projects. "Each project will cover 500 km, costing 1 billion dollars."

Answering questions on how the current Road Building projects were different from those that were initiated during the NDA Government under Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Nath said "We are going to build more roads this year than those built during the entire tenure of the Vajpayee government."