NEW DELHI: Union road transport and highways minister, Nitin Gadkari on Friday revealed how his experience of buying a colour TV on instalments from an appliances outlet in Mumbai when he was PWD minister in Maharashtra inspired him to conceptualise the first road project on Public-private Partnership (PPP), Pune-Bhiwandi bypass.
Citing how the road sector has become attractive, the minister said while earlier they had to approach investors, now investors are queuing up to invest.
Addressing an investors summit in the highways sector, Gadkari recalled that after taking charge as state PWD minister he has asked for a colour TV and a fridge, but officials said he was not entitled to this whereas judges who stayed in the same building were eligible for these appliances. “So, I went to a showroom in Malabar Hill to buy them. I asked the salesman if I could buy a TV on instalments, but the moment he knew I was a minister, he said I needed to wait for some more time so that he could deliver me a new piece. But they never delivered a TV perhaps because the shopkeeper must have become sceptical that recovering the instalment from a minister may be difficult,” he joked with investors.
The minister said though he never got the TV, the experience forced him to think that if people can buy TV or cars on instalments, why roads and tunnels can’t built and the government can make payments in instalments. We worked on the concept and the project was approved by the Central government. That was the first road project on Build Operate and Transfer (BOT) and the PPP became popular.
Gadkari said investors should not feel worried about returns on investments in infrastructure projects as there is “no doubt about two things in India – population growth and automobile growth”. He said investors are now keen to put their money in road projects after the government has taken several measures to de-risk their investment.
The highways ministry informed the investors that projects worth Rs 7 lakh crore will be bid out in the next 2-3 years and on top of that the NHAI will monetise the completed projects where toll collection has been stabilised. Officials said completed projects worth Rs 40,000 crore would be bid out to private players and they will raise nearly Rs 20,000 crore through InvIT.
Citing how the road sector has become attractive, the minister said while earlier they had to approach investors, now investors are queuing up to invest.
Addressing an investors summit in the highways sector, Gadkari recalled that after taking charge as state PWD minister he has asked for a colour TV and a fridge, but officials said he was not entitled to this whereas judges who stayed in the same building were eligible for these appliances. “So, I went to a showroom in Malabar Hill to buy them. I asked the salesman if I could buy a TV on instalments, but the moment he knew I was a minister, he said I needed to wait for some more time so that he could deliver me a new piece. But they never delivered a TV perhaps because the shopkeeper must have become sceptical that recovering the instalment from a minister may be difficult,” he joked with investors.
The minister said though he never got the TV, the experience forced him to think that if people can buy TV or cars on instalments, why roads and tunnels can’t built and the government can make payments in instalments. We worked on the concept and the project was approved by the Central government. That was the first road project on Build Operate and Transfer (BOT) and the PPP became popular.
Gadkari said investors should not feel worried about returns on investments in infrastructure projects as there is “no doubt about two things in India – population growth and automobile growth”. He said investors are now keen to put their money in road projects after the government has taken several measures to de-risk their investment.
The highways ministry informed the investors that projects worth Rs 7 lakh crore will be bid out in the next 2-3 years and on top of that the NHAI will monetise the completed projects where toll collection has been stabilised. Officials said completed projects worth Rs 40,000 crore would be bid out to private players and they will raise nearly Rs 20,000 crore through InvIT.
!function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s) {if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod? n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)}; if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version=’2.0′; n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0; t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window, document,’script’, ‘https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/fbevents.js’); fbq(‘init’, ‘593671331875494’); fbq(‘track’, ‘PageView’);
More News
Palakkad Lok Sabha Constituency: Is Growing BJP A Threat To CPM, Congress In Kerala Seat?
IMD forecasts further rise in mercury, heatwave conditions to get more severe in south Bengal | India News – Times of India
Another Tragedy For BJP After Moradabad, Partys Hathras MP Rajveer Diler Dies Of Heart Attack