Under attack from Members of the Parliament, Surface Transport Minister Kamal Nath on Tuesday sought to blame the excess rains this year for bad condition of roads in some parts of the country.
His outburst has to rank among the most bizarre episodes of two arms of the government fighting in public.
'Roads are important as they provide domestic economic stimulus.'
Road Transport and Highways Minister Kamal Nath has said that he is "excited" about his new portfolio as he is looking forward to a challenge and has got one.
Union Transport and Highways Minister Kamal Nath was taken aback at the Indian Consulate in New York, when a journalist asked him about his alleged involvement in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots in New Delhi during a press conference Tuesday, a couple of hours after a civil lawsuit was filed against him in a New York district court.
The ministry is also holding a road show aimed at projecting investment opportunities in the sector. The visit is significant as the ministry is scouting investment of $70 billion for road construction in the next 3-4 years, out of which about $45 billion is expected to come from the private sector, including $10 billion from foreign investors.
Kamal Nath will need to watch his back because given the slender majority, there is no doubt that the BJP will try to topple his government.
"We are building 20 km roads a day. But is this enough?"
Only two Indo-Canadian Members of Parliament -- Conservative Deepak Obhrai and Liberal Yasmeen Ratansi, and one senator, Conservative Vim Kochhar, showed up to greet Kamal Nath, Indian minister for roads, transportation and highways, at a reception organised by the Canada-India Parliamentary Association in Ottawa, on March 24.
Road Transport and Highways Minister Kamal Nath has been summoned by a US federal district court for his alleged role in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots based on a case filed by a Sikh outfit.
The minister said there is a need to ramp up road construction 10-fold to achieve the development targets set for the next decade.
"Land acquisition is the biggest issue. Now contracts will be awarded if 80 per cent of the land is acquired and is in possession of National Highway Authority of India," minister for road transport and highways Kamal Nath said during the Question Hour in the Lok Sabha. On members' complaints regarding 'very high' toll rates in public-private partnership projects, the minister defended the existing rates and said reduced toll would mean less roads.
Kamal Nath is in New York attending several meetings, including McGraw-Hill Construction, which is one of the largest construction industry events.
The minister, however, refused to divulge the names of the companies saying that there were many of them and he could not name them just then.
The cost overruns were because of rise in prices of construction materials, delay in land acquisition, utility shifting and obtaining clearances from forest/environment, he said during Question Hour. Poor performance of some contractors and law and order problems in some states were some other reasons.
To attract foreign investors to bid for road projects in the country, road transport and highways minister Kamal Nath said on Sunday the government would award the first mega highways project in two months.
At present, Road Secretary R S Gujral is handling the additional charge of NHAI chairman, the position which has been vacated by Brijeshwar Singh, for three months.
Despite claims of an 'austerity drive' by the United Progressive Alliance government and the Congress party, some Union ministers appeared to prefer upmarket accommodation during their official visits to the United States.
The move comes in the wake of India raising cap on foreign institutional investors investment by $5 billion in government and corporate bonds each.
However, finance minister Pranab Mukerjee did not commit himself to this proposal of floating infrastructure bonds, as this requires detailed examination and Parliamentary nod.
Kamal Nath on Thursday took over as Urban Development Minister with an ambitious plan of giving a boost to urban transportation for which he intends to expand Delhi Metro network to make it bigger than its London counterpart by 2017.
India's highways development project, the largest public private partnership programme in the world, is likely to attract a whopping investment of $41 billion, including FDI, from the private sector, Highways Minister Kamal Nath said.
Allaying apprehensions of a food crisis in view of poor monsoon, minister of road transport and highways Kamal Nath said on Friday the country has enough foodgrain reserves to tackle even the worst monsoon situation.
The government planned to build 12,000 kilometres of roads, including highways, at an estimated cost of Rs 1,00,000 crore (Rs 1 trillion) in the current financial year, Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Kamal Nath said.
Transport Ministry has set an ambitious target of building 35,000 km of highways network by March 2014 that translates into 20 km a day.
Soon after taking charge, transport minister Kamal Nath had made it mandatory for the states to sign the State Support Agreement under which the states would have to acquire land for highway construction to get central funds.
Having now privatized infrastructure in India, we are looking at the second decade of the 21st century as the decade of infrastructure. Infrastructure is now the buzzword in India, says Kamal Nath, Minister for Road Transport.
The truckers organisation, All India Motor Transport Congress has demanded lower toll tax or nearly 62 lakh (6.2 million) trucks would go off roads from August 6, bringing movement of goods throughout the country to a halt.
The ministry is seeking a $2.96-billion World Bank funding for double-laning of 6,300 km of single-lane highways, out of a total of about 19,000 km single-lane highways in the country.
The much-hyped target set by Union road transport and highways Minister Kamal Nath, to build 20 kilometres of roads every day, might be revised to a more achievable target, informed sources say. Sources close to the development say there is talk within the ministry of a more feasible target. "The target of 20 kilometres per day is not sacrosanct. That is what the minister wanted to achieve.
Toll collection is a key instrument for the government to attract private investment.
Haldea's report requires serious rethinking of the NHAI model, not an outburst by Kamal Nath.
The National Highways Authority of India will this year witness the highest ever growth out of the last decade. But Gadkari himself admits his biggest failure as India's roads minister has been his inability to curb loss of life in road accidents.
India expects a big investment of $5 billion (about Rs 22,800 crore) from Canada in the country's road development programme over the next three to four years, road transport and highways minister Kamal Nath has said.
This will fill the road infrastructure deficit.
The group, which held its first meeting in London on Monday will focus mainly on the construction of major highways and district-level roads. It will comprise major road building contractors from the UK and India.
To centralise process by setting up special units in each state.
The government expects to collect Rs 1,495 crore (Rs 14.95 billion) as toll tax from highways during the current fiscal, the Rajya Sabha was informed on Wednesday.
Besides projects under the NHAI, the government earmarks funds for constructing roads, undertaken by various state government agencies and municipal corporations. Nath will be seeking Rs 6,000 crore (Rs 60 billion) for this.
Though the controversy between the Planning Commission and the road transport ministry is old, the trigger for Road Transport and Highways Minister Kamal Nath calling the Commission an 'armchair advisor' seems to be a document of the Planning Commission.
