New Delhi.
“The road transport and shipping sectors would contribute 2% and even more to GDP growth of the country in two years”, said Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister of Road Transport & Highways and Shipping while launching the e-books of his ministries here today on completion of one year of NDA Government. Moreover, these sectors would generate nearly 25 lakh new jobs in the coming year, he added.
Underscoring the achievements of Ministry of Road Transport in the last one year, the Minister informed that investors have agreed to work on PPP model for five projects. He said a number of IT- based e-governance initiatives such as e-following, e-pay, overweight cargo (OWC) and over dimensional cargo (ODC) approvals have been introduced. A platform for infrastructure and materials providers, INAM-PRO, linking the suppliers to the road contractors and users has been commissioned. It is a historical step towards delivering cement at economical price, the Minister said. Mentioning the target of 30 km per day of highway construction in two years, the Minister said that a leap of 400% has already been taken as the construction has gone up to 13 km per day from 3 km per day during the last leg of the previous government. The Minister also expressed the hope that the ‘Road Transport & Safety Bill 2014’ would be passed in the next session of the Parliament.
Nitin Gadkari said that the Indian maritime sector is also poised to take a significant leap forword with new initiatives in ship-building, inland waterways, coastal shipping, capacity-addition and efficiency in port-operations. He further said that the Bill declaring 101 rivers of the country as National Waterways (NWs), after passage in Parliament, will pave the way for development of these waterways for cargo and passenger transportation. Work on preparation of DPRs for 16 NWs and feasibility study of 40 NWs has already commenced, he informed. He also mentioned about developing tourist centres at different islands in the country.
The links for e-books of Ministry of Road Transport & Highways and Shipping are as follows:
http://morth.nic.in/ebook2015/index.html#book5/page1
http://shipping.nic.in/egovernance/Shipping%20E-book.pdf
