INFRASTRUCTURE CONCLAVE 2016 – ACCELERATED GROWTH WITH INCLUSION AND EQUITY

Roads, Ports & Other Infrastructure Committee and Hydrocarbons Committee of PHD Chamber of Commerce & Industry organised the “Infrastructure Conclave 2016 – Accelerated Growth with Inclusion & Equity” on 5th October 2016 at PHD House, New Delhi which was attended by more than 130 delegates and 27 speakers from Industry, government and other stakeholders during the full day event.

Dr. Mahesh Gupta, President, PHD Chamber in his welcome address emphasized on timely government interference to sort out the problems of contractors that are engaged by it for putting up the required infrastructure both on roads, railways and other modes of transportation.

Mr. Ashish Mohan Wig, Chairman, Roads, Ports & Other Infrastructure Committee, PHD Chamber said that in recent years, special efforts have been made by the central government to strengthen the National Highways and also to improve rural road connectivity. Mr. Wig, further highlighted the recent government initiatives in the infrastructure sector including ports and inland waterways. Mr. Wig emphasised that inland waterways are the need of the hour as a supplement mode of transport offering tremendous scope for the industry to participate in this fast emerging sector. To efficiently handle the increasing trade requirements, he said that there is immediate need for strengthening the port infrastructure of our country.

Mr. Anil Swarup, Secretary, Ministry of Coal, Govt. of India said  that all sort of paper work in his ministry will come to an end from 16th October 2016, replacing it completely with digitalization for utmost transparency and efficiency. Mr. Swarup also said that his Ministry in consultation with Ministry of Shipping and Railway Board were working tirelessly to intensify movement of coal through ships.

Secretary, Ministry of Shipping, Mr. Rajive Kumar emphasized that Sagarmala Project as visualized by the government of the day would be implemented as scheduled as his ministry has been receiving the required support from NHAI, Railway Board and other departments of the government.

Mr. Amitabh Verma, Chairman, Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) said that Ferry vessels operations into the 16 km length of river Yamuna from Delhi could be a reality from December 2016 as IWAI has submitted all necessary details to National Green Tribunal (NGT) for obtaining its green signal for the job. Mr. Verma also announced that tenders for seven waterways would be floated in next 3-4 months.

Mr. Raghav Chandra, Chairman, National Highways Authority of India announced that NHAI would complete the process of bidding out roads and highways projects measuring a length of 10,000 km by end of current fiscal. Mr. Chandra also claimed that 12,000 km to 15,000 km of such projects are likely to be physically completed in next three years.

Mr. Saurabh Sanyal, Secretary General, PHD Chamber delivered the formal vote of thanks.
The conference had four technical sessions where distinguished speakers from the sector expressed their views and gave suggestions to improve the sector. In the last, Dr. Ranjeet Mehta, Director, PHD Chamber and concluded the Conclave with his concluding remarks and vote of thanks.