New roads will reduce the cost of logistics: Gadkari

New roads will reduce the cost of logistics: Gadkari

There’s no dearth of funds for infrastructure development in India, and the government’s target is to increase the length of national highways (NHs) to 2 lakh km by 2025, Union road transport and highways minister Nitin Gadkari said at the ET Global Business Summit.

“Projects in India have economic viability. For the success of any project, we need proven technology, economic viability, availability of raw materials and marketability. All these are available in India,” Gadkari said. “I can even take up projects with investment up to Rs 8 lakh crore-10 lakh crore, and to raise funds I can go to the capital market. People are waiting to invest in our projects as these are viable,” he added.

He pointed out that high quality infrastructure is key to attracting investment and pushing industrial growth to eradicate poverty. Gadkari said the government’s focus is on greenfield expressways and highways to slash the cost of logistics from 18% of GDP at present to 9%, to make Indian products globally competitive. He said the government has taken up construction of 10,000km of greenfield expressways and economic corridors with an investment of Rs 7 lakh crore.