For infra firms, Nath’s just the man
Infrastructure firms are quite upbeat with the appointment of Kamal Nath as union minister of road transport and highways.
Infrastructure firms are quite upbeat with the appointment of Kamal Nath as union minister of road transport and highways.
Given Nath’s track record as commerce & industry minister the last time around and the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) regime’s less-than-satisfactory performance with regard to the infrastructure space, especially highways, companies say there is every reason to be hopeful of a quicker turnaround in the state of affairs.
E Sudhir Reddy, chairman & managing director (CMD) of Hyderabad-based IVRCL Infrastructure & Projects, said Nath has already shown intent to move things faster. “Nath has put in place some kind of plan and has already called a meeting of all concessionaires,” said Reddy.
IVRCL is currently executing three highway projects on a build-operate-transfer (BOT) basis.
Within days of taking over, Nath said that he would meet all state governments within a month and look at models other than the public-private partnership (PPP) to expedite road projects. “If nobody responds to a model, then that is not workable. A workable model has to be put in place so that what is planned is converted into work on the ground,” Nath said last week.
Ashwin Parmar, director of business development at Patel Engineering, said Nath’s appointment evokes a sense of optimism given his feat at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) talks. “He would bring in some incentives for developers. For instance, the government might develop projects itself,” said Parmar.
As regards Nath’s predecessor T R Baalu, companies are unanimous in expressing their disappointment with his performance. A senior official from a leading construction company, requesting anonymity, said, “The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) had as many as four chairmen in the last five years and Baalu’s stint clearly did not meet our expectations.”
Praveen Sood, chief financial officer, Hindustan Construction Company, said the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) had fared much better in infrastructure than the UPA. “B C Khanduri, the current chief minister of Uttarakhand and the minister for road transport and highways in the NDA regime, clearly put things on a fast track. Individuals at the helm make a lot of difference and I am confident that Nath will deliver,” Sood said.
The NDA regime is largely credited with coming up a definitive highway programme. Though a length of 7,628 km was completed in the last five years, compared with 3,409 km during the NDA regime, numbers don’t tell the whole story.
“A large part of the completed length in the last five years was in projects awarded during the NDA reign,” said an analyst. Moreover, as on March 31, 2004, the total length under implementation was 4,118 km, while it was only 2,057 km five years later.
The downturn has also contributed to India’s infrastructure woes, with NHAI awarding only 10 out of the 60 highway projects that were to have been awarded last fiscal under Phases II, III and V of the National Highways Development Programme. Three projects are close to being awarded while the rest are in various stages of rebidding.
Given Nath’s track record as commerce & industry minister the last time around and the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) regime’s less-than-satisfactory performance with regard to the infrastructure space, especially highways, companies say there is every reason to be hopeful of a quicker turnaround in the state of affairs.
E Sudhir Reddy, chairman & managing director (CMD) of Hyderabad-based IVRCL Infrastructure & Projects, said Nath has already shown intent to move things faster. “Nath has put in place some kind of plan and has already called a meeting of all concessionaires,” said Reddy.
IVRCL is currently executing three highway projects on a build-operate-transfer (BOT) basis.
Within days of taking over, Nath said that he would meet all state governments within a month and look at models other than the public-private partnership (PPP) to expedite road projects. “If nobody responds to a model, then that is not workable. A workable model has to be put in place so that what is planned is converted into work on the ground,” Nath said last week.
Ashwin Parmar, director of business development at Patel Engineering, said Nath’s appointment evokes a sense of optimism given his feat at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) talks. “He would bring in some incentives for developers. For instance, the government might develop projects itself,” said Parmar.
As regards Nath’s predecessor T R Baalu, companies are unanimous in expressing their disappointment with his performance. A senior official from a leading construction company, requesting anonymity, said, “The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) had as many as four chairmen in the last five years and Baalu’s stint clearly did not meet our expectations.”
Praveen Sood, chief financial officer, Hindustan Construction Company, said the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) had fared much better in infrastructure than the UPA. “B C Khanduri, the current chief minister of Uttarakhand and the minister for road transport and highways in the NDA regime, clearly put things on a fast track. Individuals at the helm make a lot of difference and I am confident that Nath will deliver,” Sood said.
The NDA regime is largely credited with coming up a definitive highway programme. Though a length of 7,628 km was completed in the last five years, compared with 3,409 km during the NDA regime, numbers don’t tell the whole story.
“A large part of the completed length in the last five years was in projects awarded during the NDA reign,” said an analyst. Moreover, as on March 31, 2004, the total length under implementation was 4,118 km, while it was only 2,057 km five years later.
The downturn has also contributed to India’s infrastructure woes, with NHAI awarding only 10 out of the 60 highway projects that were to have been awarded last fiscal under Phases II, III and V of the National Highways Development Programme. Three projects are close to being awarded while the rest are in various stages of rebidding.