~ The event witnessed presence of Shri Nitin Gadkari ji and other stalwarts, veterans and leaders from renowned construction and infrastructure companies ~

National,  9th December  2017 (GPN) :  Moneycontrol, India’s leading financial platform organized ‘India’s Road Ahead’, a special on ground conference held today, at ITC Grand Central, Mumbai. The event was graced by Honorable Union Minister Shri Nitin Gadkari ji, Road Transport and Highways, Shipping, Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, who also took the podium as the keynote speaker at the event. The conference witnessed attendance by many leaders, veterans and stalwarts from the construction and infrastructure industries.

Speaking about the developments in the country, Shri Nitin Gadkari ji shared his ambitious and innovative transport projects. He said, “A strong network of roadways directly contributes towards the prosperity and economic growth in the country. Following through our goals and objectives, we have flagged-off multiple projects and signed deals with various infrastructure and construction companies. This step is taken towards delivering our primary goal to ensure that there is great connectivity across the country. The idea is also to create a wealth of quality employment opportunities for the young generation, in the sector.”

Important points discussed by Shri  Nitin Gadkari:

· Delhi’s National Expressway and 2 Expressways will be inaugurated in January

· Delhi-Meerut expressway will be inaugurated by this month end

· Leh-Ladak tunnel project worth Rs Rs 16, 000 crore coming up

· Aim to give employment to 1 crore youths

· Intend to create a garden which will be spread on 800 acres of land for Mumbaikars

· Looking forward to bring environment-friendly ethanol powered buses

· Sagar Mala has an outlay of Rs 16 lakh crore and Rs 2 lakh crore worth of the project that has already started

· Constructing 20 tunnels in Jammu and Kashmir within two years 

· There is an investment of approx. 6000 Cr. designated towards special economic zone

The event gave impetus to conversations around the next phase of the country’s development. The future of India’s roadways was discussed at length during a riveting panel discussion among Industry veterans such as Rajat Gupta – McKinsey, Shri Sudhir Hoshing (Jt MD IRB), S.G.Paretkar, director, AFCONS, Kiran Kurundkar – Joint MD, MSRDC, Samruddhi project, CP Joshi – Secretary of Roads, PWD, Indranil Pan, Chief Economist, IDFC Bank. 

Gautam Shelar, Business Head, moneycontrol commented, “With the road networks inadvertently defining the future of our country, we felt it was imperative to bring all the key-players from the industry on a single platform to ideate, discuss innovations, technology and chalk out a path for the future. The on-ground conference received an overwhelming response from the participants. The discussions have brought forth new information, which will assist the industry in moving forward. We thank Shri Nitin Gadkari ji and other leaders to participate in the conference and make it a grand success.”

As per the objective, the event gave an impetus to conversations around the next phase of the country’s development and brought up an impactful panel discussion among the industry veterans on topics like ‘Achievements on the road front’ with focus on North East roads, land acquisition, tunneling, road building and financing and ‘Advantage India: Unlocking India’s wealth potential,’ to recognize key practices that benefit the country at large. 

Important highlights mentioned  by  the panelists are: 

Sudhir Hoshing, Joint Managing  Director , IRB Infra

· Real change in infrastructure came from Vajpayee government

Rajat Gupta, Senior Partner, McKinsey Mumbai

· We still have a long way to go for India’s  infrastructure

· We should start thinking about next  challenges about roads now

Indranil Pan, Group Economist, IDFC  Bank Ltd.

· It’s wrong to compare India’s infrastructure with other countries, as it has its own challenges

Kiran Kurundkar, Managing Director, MSRDC

· Five locations on Samruddhi Expressway  for defence forces during emergencies

· Samruddhi expressway a great project and also cut short travelling time between Mumbai and Nagpur

CP Joshi, Secretary, Road, PWD, Maharashtra

· Maharashtra is one of the leading states  in country in infrastructure sector.ENDS