A MAJOR INFRASTRUCTURE SUMMIT

 

8 FEBRUARY 2011 - THE WESTIN MUMBAI GARDEN CITY

 

The Indian government responded to the global economic downturn with stimulus plans that place substantial emphasis on infrastructure development. A key component is an ambitious programme to revamp the country's vast network of roads and highways. The plan, spearheaded by India's Ministry of Road Transport & Highways, involves awarding as much as 15,000 km of new highway contracts a year and increasing the daily construction rate 10-fold to 20 km a day.

 

The investment required is huge. The Ministry has estimated total costs for the current fiscal year at close to Rs1,000 billion (US$21.5 billion), while the investment target for the next five years has been projected at US$70 billion, with more than half being raised from the private sector. Involvement of foreign firms is seen as essential, not only to provide financing -- a roads finance corporation has been launched to raise an initial US$10 billion from international investors -- but also to boost the capability of local infrastructure companies to meet the government's construction targets.

 

The government has already announced some measures to attract foreign private sector partners and encourage joint ventures, including an increase in the concession periods for the highway projects, some of which involve European-style toll routes. However, while a number of projects have already been tendered, not many have yet been awarded, with infrastructure companies and financial investors still unsure whether the potential outweighs the risks.

 

This half-day, invitation-only conference brought together senior officials and executives from the public and private sectors, including regulators, bankers, fund managers, private equity investors, infrastructure contractors and other industrialists, from India and overseas, to discuss the opportunities for foreign companies and investors in the roads programme, and the obstacles that need to be overcome for the government's targets to be achieved.

 

Chaired by James Lamont, the Financial Times' South Asia Bureau Chief, the conference addressed in detail the measures that need to be taken to make the roads programme a success, including public-private partnership solutions that have been effective elsewhere and new, innovative responses.

 

Letter from Minister of Road Transport & Highways CP Joshi can be downloaded here

 

 

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