Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday said all future road development projects, barring a few exceptions, would be on build, operate and transfer basis.
Inaugurating the centenary celebrations of the PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry in the capital today, Singh said road development would continue to involve the private sector, domestic as well as foreign.
This follows the government's announcement that the ambitious National Highway Development Programme Phase III for upgrading 10,000 km by 2012, will be undertaken purely on BOT basis. Of the total cost of Rs 55,000 crore (Rs 550 billion), about Rs 30,000 crore (Rs 300 billion) is expected from private investment. Till now, only 857 km of the roads have been upgraded on BOT basis under the Golden Quadrilateral project.
Rapid development of roads will be a pre-requisite to an overall economic growth of 7-8 per cent in the coming years.
"The growth rate has almost been 7 per cent this year on the back of 8 per cent last year. All indications at the moment are that we may be able to deliver a 7-8 per cent growth even next year," he said.
The government would provide the necessary impetus for the development of infrastructure, to ensure the projected growth rate of 7-8 per cent is achieved during the next fiscal. He said that finance minister P Chidambaram will soon provide further details of the special purpose vehicle (SPV) being set up for providing investment capital for infrastructure projects.
Speaking on the private container freight, Singh said that introduction of special container trains, should be a major step forward towards infrastructure development.
Citing the buoyancy witnessed in the civil aviation sector, the prime minister said. "I believe we are on the right track and if the momentum is sustained, we will be able to address the infrastructure problem."
He, however, admitted that the first set of reforms in Nineties were far easier as they related largely to external trade liberalisation and removal of industrial trade licences.
