Sri. Nitin Gadkari, Transport Minister of India said, “100% of roads in a $4.7 billion development project will be cement/concrete. This large-scale infrastructure program involves converting 12 major ports into smart cities.” This is a significant investment in surface transportation infrastructure, and even more so when considering the economies of the United States and India:
- Gross Domestic Product (GDP): USA: $17 trillion India: $2 billion
- Gross National Income (GNI) per capita: USA: $53,750 India: $5,350
“We are also looking at adopting global standards of road construction, with our intention to construct concrete roads,” Nitin said. Sri. Gadkari said the public-private partnership model is a compulsion, so that government resources can be focused on the rural and agriculture sectors. “You won’t hear any complaints that roads are not being constructed or are lying vacant.”
In the article from the web portal Rediff India Abroad (Indian news, information, entertainment and shopping), 23 questions were asked of Sri. Gadkari.
One question was, “Will all roads be built with cement/concrete?”
Mr. Gadkari answered, “Yes, 100 per cent! Cement roads have a life of 100 years and bitumen roads have a life of five years. In Nagpur, I had concrete roads constructed in 1995 when I was minister in Maharashtra. No maintenance has been required till now.”
Another question asked was, “What is the delivered cost of cement/concrete?”
He replied, “Ministry of Road Transport and Highways-Government of India have a website called INAM-Pro—the Platform for Infrastructure and Materials Providers. INAM-Pro has brought down costs for cement procurement.” He added that through the portal, as the price was reduced, the companies reduced their prices … When they benchmarked the price of cement, the industry said ‘we will sell at lower rates, buy from us’. The contractor is not bound to buy from anyone.
In a YouTube video featuring Sri. Nitin Gadkari, it is explained that they are also planning for the “Chaar Dhaam Yatra” highway project. It is the highway-connection of the four holy towns of Yamunotri, Gangotri, Kedarnath and Badrinath, at a cost of Rs 11,000 crore under “Chaar Dhaam Yatra” … To view this 1:10-minute YouTube video, please click here.
For the entire “REDIFF” article, please click here.
For the INAM-Pro website, please click here. For the ACPA archived article, please click here.
