‘Freight corridors offer a plethora of opportunities’

“With dedicated freight corridors ready in a few years, we will be shrinking the time for movement of goods from the northern region to western ports to less than 15 hours,” said Amitabh Kant, CEO, NITI Aayog.

Speaking at the inauguration of CII’s construction equipment expo Excon 2017 here on Tuesday, Kant said, “At present, goods are moving at slow pace and is taking more than 15 days.”

Corridor routes

“The government has identified corridor routes. We have planned new corridors in the country such as Amritsar in Punjab (north) to Kolkata (in the east) and another between Bengaluru and Chennai. It is here construction equipment industry needs to brace itself,” he added.

Also the sector has huge responsibility as the country is on an ambitious journey on urbanisation. The private sector holds the key to implement the projects in a time-bound manner, Kant said.

“The government had already identified and announced 100 smart cities. It is also developing 50 new metro cities. The private sector should be a partner in the journey,” he said.

The sector has benefited from the new urbanisation push which has resulted in growth of roads and highways. Now, the sector can also tap the irrigation sector, which had remained moribund for a long time, Kant added.

Infra spending

Anant Geete, Union Minister for Heavy Industries and Public Sector Enterprises, said, “The Centre is planning to spend ₹7-8 lakh crore on infrastructure development. This is evident from the launch of new schemes to promote the capital goods industry.”

Similary, in the coming years, same amount is expected to be spent in infrastructure creation,” he added. “In all these efforts, ‘Make in India’ is a pivotal initiative especially in the heavy industry sector. While we want foreign players to invest in India, our focus is also to encourage Indian companies to invest and grow in India.”

‘Set for expansion’

Shobana Kamineni, President, CII, said, “Construction industry remains the fundamental strength of the economy with important multiplier impact. Under the Make in India matrix, construction machinery as a key component of the capital goods sector contributes to India’s manufacturing prowess and is set to witness strong expansion.”

Vipin Sondhi, Chairman, CII Excon 2017, said the construction industry is headed for better days of a projected stable growth of 10 per cent CAGR over the next five years compared to 7 per cent in the previous decade.