Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari today said that good road infrastructure and better connectivity were essential for India’s economic growth and global competitiveness.
Addressing the 31st CII Partnership Summit in Visakhapatnam today, Mr. Gadkari said improved road infrastructure had helped reduce logistics costs from 16 per cent to nine per cent of GDP. This would make Indian exports more competitive in international markets.
The Minister referred to major national projects, including the Atal Tunnel, Zoji La Tunnel and 36 tunnels between Jammu and Srinagar, which, he said, were improving connectivity in difficult areas.
Mr Gadkari said the 1,100-km Surat-Chennai Expressway, being built at a cost of Rs 45,000 crore, would reduce travel time from 31 hours to 17 hours. The expressway would pass through Kadapa, Annamayya and Tirupati districts in Andhra Pradesh.
Addressing a session on sustainable energy at the Summit, Union Minister for New and Renewable Energy Pralhad Joshi today said that India is making steady progress in renewable energy and was on course to achieve its target of 500 GW of non-fossil fuel-based power capacity by 2030.
Mr. Joshi said India’s solar power capacity had increased from 2.8 GW in 2014 to 175 GW at present. He said non-fossil sources now accounted for about 55 per cent of the country’s total installed power capacity.
Referring to India’s growing energy demand, Mr. Joshi said peak power demand had risen from 123 GW in 2012 to 270 GW recently. He said the country had met the increased demand without interruption, with nearly 33 per cent of the power coming from non-fossil sources.
