MEP Infrastructure Developers Limited has been given April 25, 2017, as the Appointed Date for its Hybrid Annuity project in Gujarat (the Talaja-Mahuva section) in accordance with the Concession Agreement executed with the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI). The project is a part of the Bhavnagar-Veraval stretch.

It was 6.15 pm with 15 minutes to go for the mega event of the infrastructure equipment industry. Meanwhile, the Viceroy Hall at the heritage Claridges Hotel located in New Delhi's famed Lutyen's Zone was already filled to capacity.

PR Jaishankar, Chief General Manager, India Infrastructure Finance Company Ltd (IIFCL) says that old models of development financing need a complete overhaul. He feels while development financing still holds relevance, it needs to be viewed in the context of the dynamic needs of the emerging environment.

Just as with PPP projects, HAM contracts too are finding financial closure to be a challenge. Banks, especially, are wary of putting their money on developers with weak financials and lack of adequate experience. Industry insiders, however, beg to differ.

Budget should focus on higher funds allocation to infrastructure and improving domestic macroeconomic fundamentals The priority of the Budget should be to improve the macroeconomic fundamentals of the country and make efforts to meet the fiscal deficit targets of last year. The onus should be on productive utilisation of funds.

India will need $1.5 trillion of investment in infrastructure over the next 10 years. Of this nearly $10 billion is required in sewage treatment plants. Similarly, about $8 billion is required to be invested in ensuring regular drinking water supply.

Sandeep Upadhyay - MD & CEO, Centrum Infrastructure Advisory Ltd, says that a more consultative process involving the NHAI and all stakeholders, by giving due weightage to the lenders, would result in a win-win situation for infrastructure development in India.

Sanjeev Kaushik, Deputy Managing Director, India Infrastructure Finance Company Ltd, speaks on the challenges facing infra financing and the likely contours of the post-GST regime

Infrablaze 2016, a flagship event of the Symbiosis Centre for Management and Human Resource Development (SCMHRD), witnessed an audience made up of students and equally enthusiastic academicians.