Even as free joyrides are being extended to Nagpurites on the 5-kilometre stretch from the Airport South to Khapri on the Nagpur metro rail before its formal inauguration, the federal government has plans to extend the service to the city’s outskirts using the existing broad-gauge railway tracks.

Stakeholders harp on the government's infrastructure push and expect construction orders of Rs.18 trillion in the next six years. This order inflow volume should support 12 to 15 per cent of industry-level execution of compound annual growth rate (CAGR).

Our outperformance is the result of the amalgamation of high product quality, high-intensive technology, strategic flexibility and organisational responsiveness. In uncertain times there are sudden shifts in demands, making it necessary for product-cum-service providers like us to respond to the changing design and testing compliances with increasing speeds.

The overall cost of expansion of the operational and approved metro projects under implementation is over Rs 2.5 lakh crore, and another Rs 2 lakh crore worth projects are in various stages of approval and are likely to come up for bidding in the next five years

India is the third largest steel producer in the world after China and Japan and has an installed capacity of about 131 million tonne (mt) at present. It produced 101 mt of steel in FY2017 and consumed 84 mt during the same period.

In an exclusive interview to INFRASTRUCTURE TODAY, Debjani Chakrabarti, Director Highways, Ministry of Road Transport & Highways (MoRTH) elucidates some of the key funding strategies being utilised by India as a part of the country's ambitious Rs 7 trillion roads building programme.

The initiatives that will have a direct bearing on the pace of execution include awarding projects after securing 80 per cent right of way, expediting projects stuck midway, delegating the power to grant forest clearances to regional offices, filing online for clearances to construct road over bridges (ROBs) and road under bridges (RUBs) and increasing the limit on sand mining.

The Railways has sizeable capex plans for the five year period 2015-19 involving a capital outlay of Rs.8.56 trillion. The annual capital outlay for FY2016-18 was increased significantly to meet the five-year targets. NITI Aayog has also finalised the three year action agenda (2018-20).

The Government of India has embarked on the Sagarmala Programme with a vision to reduce logistics cost for both domestic and EXIM cargo and utilise the waterways to their potential.