New Delhi, Sep.12 (ANI): The Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, on Monday, said having good roads is essential for India's overall growth, and called for fine tuning of the public-private partnerships in the construction of national highways both in the short and long term.
Addressing a conference on public-private partnership in National Highways here, Dr. Singh said that with Planning Commission's approach document to the Twelfth Five Year Plan targeting nine per cent growth per annum for the period 2012-13 to 2016-17, it was imperative to understand that one of the important preconditions to achieve this growth was the doubling of investment in infrastructure during the next five years.
"Our aim is to raise the level of investment in the infrastructure to about one trillion dollars. And, it goes without saying, that it seems a very challenging task, but I am convinced that our economy has the resilience to live up to challenges that lie ahead, Singh said.
He further added that: "Good roads are essential element of infrastructure for providing industry and agriculture with the connectivity to markets for growth in production and trade, and more generally for improving the quality of life of citizens. They are crucial not only for accelerating the growth rate, but also for making whole growth process more socially and economically inclusive."
"We have taken impressive strides in developing an extensive road network to benefit all sections of our population. We have launched a rural roads programme that is aimed directly at improving connectivity in our vast rural areas. We have also launched a major programme for upgradation of highways. Financing an ambitious highways programme will no doubt require substantial resources. Some parts of the network can only be developed through public investment," the Prime Minister said.
He also said that there are aeas where private investment can be invited, based on affordable user charges with some capital subsidy as necessary.
"The Twelfth Plan strategy calls for exploring the scope for such public private partnership as much as possible. I have often said public private partnership is private profit in service of public at large," Singh said.
"We have been successful in attracting large volumes of private investment in this sector. Contract awards exceeded about 4,800 km in the last financial year, and the Road Transport and Highways Ministry is well poised to award of 7,300 km this year, to fulfill our government's resolve to build 20 km a day," he added.
He said that the National Highways Authority has made PPP the preferred mode for most of its projects.
"PPP projects take much less time to complete and the government does not have to bear cost overruns. This will not only enable us to leverage our limited public resources, but also improve efficiency of service delivery," Singh said.
He said that he was happy to note that India has attained the second rank globally among developing countries in attracting private investment for infrastructure projects.
"For a large road building programme, efficiency, economy, competition and transparency are vital the touchstones that should be used for judging our level of success. These are especially important when we deal with the private sector. We must remember that these are public projects where public interest must be foremost in our mind," Singh said.
He added: "It is necessary to demonstrate that the award, construction and operation of these projects is based on a fair and transparent approach which eliminates any suspicion of favouritism or what might be described as crony capitalism."
"The National Highways with a total length of over 71,000 km serve as the arterial network of our country. However, the flagship National Highways Development Programme has only addressed about 25,000 km so far. In the recent meeting of the full Planning Commission, we have endorsed the proposal of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways to take up a large programme for developing the national highways in far flung areas across the length and breadth of our nation," Singh said.
He said that he has requested Road Transport and Highways Minister C P Joshi to accelerate the programme to increase the reach of the National Highway Development Programme across the country.
Singh also said that state governments also have a very crucial role to play in the road sector.
" The support of state governments is absolutely essential for development and operation of the national highways. I would urge state governments to formulate their respective State Highway Development Programmes for a coordinated and time-bound development of all roads in their respective states. I would urge the states to work closely with the central government so that a modern road network can be developed in each state," he added.
He described the conference as a timely event that would serve as a forum for sharing knowledge and experience with a view to improving service delivery in the infrastructure sector. (ANI)
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