The Hindu Business Line : Target of 7,000 km of road will not be met: Kamal Nath

The Minister for Road, Transport and Highways, Mr Kamal Nath (right), and the President of AIMA, Mr S.K. Swamy, at a conference on "Promoting Excellence in Governance", in the Capital on Tuesday. —

Our Bureau

New Delhi, July 22 “We are targeting 7,000 km of road construction. But it will not be achieved this year,” said Mr Kamal Nath, Minister of Road Transport and Highways, on the sidelines of a conference organised by the All India Management Association on Wednesday.

Mr Nath, after taking charge of his Ministry, had set a target of completing 20 km of road construction per day, totalling 7,000 km per annum.

However, he told reporters that this target would not be achieved this year as it needed capacity building of consultants, contractors and the National Highways Authority of India.

Mr Nath added that once the capacity building is complete the Ministry would be back on track to achieve the target.

On a more optimistic note, Mr Nath said that funding will not be a problem in the execution of upcoming projects.

“Investment will not be an issue where roads are concerned. We’ve got to put certain things in order. In the next 10 months we are inviting huge amount of bids,” he said.

Overall investment

The Minister said out of the overall investment of $70 billion in the roads and highways sector, private participation was pegged at $40 billion, of which $10 billion was expected from foreign investors.