Union Road Transport and Highway Minister Nitin Gadkari on Wednesday (23 September) said that the government is in process to set up a new Development Finance Institution (DFI) to facilitate long-term investment in infrastructure, an official release said.
Addressing a webinar on “Ease of Business for Driving Investment in Roads and Highways Sector”, Gadkari said that prompt and positive approach of the government in the recent past has led to an increase in speedy implementation of the public projects.
Gadkari said a well-developed infrastructure has multiple benefits. Firstly, it increases the level of economic activity, it improves the revenue base of the government, and lastly ensures expenditure is focused on productive areas, he said.
He said the COVID-19 pandemic had caused a slowdown in India, but due to the supportive policies of the government across all sectors and due to the commitment of all stakeholders, India’s GDP in first quarter of 2021-22 grew to a record high of 20.1 per cent.
He said the government has given a massive push to the economy by allocating about $1.4 trillion for infrastructure to be invested until 2025, according to a release by the Ministry of Road Transport.
The minister said the National Master Plan of ‘Gati Shakti’ scheme of more than Rs 100 lakh crores is focused on holistic and integrated infrastructure development in the country.
He said the Gati Shakti Master Plan will provide the framework for the National Infrastructure Pipeline program and is aimed at making Indian products more competitive by cutting down the logistics costs and improving the supply chains.
Gadkari said the government has integrated various infrastructure projects under the Infrastructure Vision 2025.
He said a minister level Group of Infrastructure has been created under his Chairmanship to resolve approval or clearance issues related to environment and forest, railways defence and civil aviation.