Conference: India Needs more Roads and Highways

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<h1>Conference: India Needs more Roads and Highways </h1><strong> Author: <a href='http://www.articleseen.com/profile_Rao Praveen.aspx'>Rao Praveen</a></strong><br /><p>The roads and highways are the lifeline of an economy. India’s economy is in dire need of better infrastructure to support its growth and spread the benefits of development to a wide section of its population residing across the country. Sensing opportunity and challenges in the sector, InfralineEnergy organised a conference ‘Roads and Highways: Paving the way Towards Development’ in New Delhi on June 15 at Imperial Hotel. The conclave drew participants from a large number of companies associated with the sector. The speakers included <b>R S Gujaral</b>, Secretary, Ministry of Roads and Highways and Chairman, National Highway Authority of India, <b>R P Indoria</b>, ADG – Road Development & Special Secretary, Ministry of Road Transport & Highways and Kamlesh Kumar, ADG – Road Development (Former), <b>Ministry of Road Transport & Highways</b>. Gujaral narrated the developments made by the ministry and the steps taken to further accelerate the pace. He mentioned the reasons behind missing the target of capacity addition of 20 kms/day. “The sector is now ready to deliver on the promised target,” he assured. “The target has been scaled up to 9000 kms for the next year,” he added. Gujaral felt that there has to be greater focus in asset management and tolling in NHAI as well as in the government. He also touched on pre-qualification process, which he termed as a major grouse of the industry and informed the players on the progress made by the government in resolving it. While discussing on the industry’s progress in usage of technology, Indoria gently reminded that all R&D is industry driven and the government’s role is that of a facilitator. Kumar, who was also the moderator of the conference, spoke on the lack of skilled manpower in the sector and sought the participation of the industry players to inform the government on the quantity and quality of manpower required at various stages of the project so that the government can take appropriate steps. The second session was chaired by Athar Shahab, Deputy Managing Director, IDFC Projects. The other speakers included Dr. Puneet Sethi, President, Reliance Infrastructure and Arjun Dhawan, President, Hindustan Construction Company. Shahab pointed out the lack of due diligence and commented that the bid process is complex and inefficient. He added that there are various HR challenges and on the top of it, an absence of long tenure funding. He concluded his discussion saying that the country cannot afford a leadership vacuum at NHAI. Sethi made a presentation on ‘Structuring and Negotiating the Joint Ventures’ in the roads and highways sector. He said that even the government is putting its weight behind promoting JVs in the sector. Though Dhawan appreciated the significant amount of capacity building, he mentioned that a recent study on country’s infrastructure rated India at 90th position out of 130 countries listed.</p><strong>About the Author:</strong><br />Check out our Upcomming Conferences on coal, Oil & Gas, Power, Renewable Energy, Road and Ports. Log on to <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.infraline.com/">infraline.com</a> for further information.<p> Article Source: <a href='http://www.articleseen.com/Article_Conference-India-Needs-more-Roads-and-Highways_64329.aspx'> http://www.articleseen.com/Article_Conference: India Needs more Roads and Highways _64329.aspx</a></p>

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