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.
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.
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.
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.
"We have decided to build 20 km of roads every day and then take it to 7,000 km a year. Therefore, if we lose more days (in terms of putting foreign investment in place), it will be a great loss," Union Minister of Surface Transport Kamal Nath told a gathering of 100-odd potential investors and entrepreneurs at the Indian Consulate in New York on Tuesday.
"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.
We have decided to build 20 kilometers of road a day to take it to 7,000 kilometers a year: Kamal Nath.
Aiming for a 9 per cent GDP growth by 2011, India attaches the 'highest priority' to build good road infrastructure across the country to achieve the target, Union Road Transport Minister Kamal Nath has said.
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.
The two bodies have been fighting a running battle over the targets for construction of highways.
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.
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.
Road Transport Minister Kamal Nath said on Monday he was forewarned that the Plan panel would not allow him to achieve a 20 km-a-day road-building target.
Kamal Nath is in New York attending several meetings, including McGraw-Hill Construction, which is one of the largest construction industry events.
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.
Toll collection is a key instrument for the government to attract private investment.
A plan for projects to be awarded in the year 2010-11 is to be launched soon.
However, finance minister Pranab Mukerjee did not commit himself to this proposal of floating infrastructure bonds, as this requires detailed examination and Parliamentary nod.
In an interview with Mihir Mishra and Jyoti Mukul, Nath, who as the commerce and industry minister in the previous United Progressive Alliance government was part of the fire-fighting to minimise impact of the slowdown, says that the current year will be better than the last year.
This will fill the road infrastructure deficit.
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.
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.
Building roads has become a priority for the new Congress-led government as it aims to generate demand across the country. Kamal Nath's\nappointment as transport minister is seen by analysts as an attempt to push that agenda.
NHAI chairman Brajeshwar Singh said the highways authority would recruit 400 people in the next 12-18 months to deal with the manpower shortage faced by it.
A committee on electronic toll collection headed by Unique Identification Authority of India chairman Nandan Nilekani, which is developing the equipment, has recommended using Radio Frequency Identification technology for the system, Road Transport and Highways Minister Kamal Nath told reporters.
The government will invite bids by this year-end for three mega projects worth around Rs 14,500 crore (Rs 145 billion) in the road sector, Road Transport and Highways Minister Kamal Nath said on Friday. Earlier, he had said that 20 km of roads will be built in a day in the next two years amounting to an investment of Rs 2,00,000 crore (Rs 2,000 billion).
Over 2,500 global leaders in business and politics arrived in this Swiss resort on Wednesday to put their minds together on how best to support the fragile recovery following the worst economic crisis since the 1930s.
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.
The minister said there is a need to ramp up road construction 10-fold to achieve the development targets set for the next decade.
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.
To centralise process by setting up special units in each state.
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.
"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.
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.
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.
The move comes in the wake of India raising cap on foreign institutional investors investment by $5 billion in government and corporate bonds each.
A report by a senior official in the Planning Commission has said the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) is heading towards bankruptcy, as its debt is set to increase five times in the next three years.
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