Adapt BOT route for infrastructure, says PM

Economic reforms, though well on their way, are not as easy to achieve today as they were in the nineties, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh sai...

Economic reforms, though well on their way, are not as easy to achieve today as they were in the nineties, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on Monday.

Addressing centenary celebrations of the Punjab, Haryana and Delhi Chamber of Commerce and Industry PHDCCI, Singh said, 8216;8216;The first set of reforms in the 1990s were far easier as they related largely to external trade liberalisation and removal of industrial licensing.

8216;8216;We are now at a stage where the critical bottleneck is infrastructure 8212; physical as well as human. This is a far more complex area and not amenable to easy solutions,8217;8217; he said.

Singh said, after reforms in external trade issues, FDI, capital markets, banking, finance and aviation, the attention must now be on dispersing bottlenecks in infrastructure, on rural growth, small scale industries and agriculture.

8216;8216;States that have advanced in economic development8230; have been the ones that have experienced an agrarian transformation and expansion of urban areas,8217;8217; Singh said.

The critical bottleneck, infrastructure, he said, was high priority: 8216;8216;We are continuing and speeding up the highway programme and NHDP 8212; IIIA has been approved. We have decided that all future road construction 8212; barring a few exceptions 8212; will be through the build operate and transfer BOT route. This will provide additional investment avenues for private capital.8217;8217;

Apart from the policy direction provided by the Committee on Infrastructure which he chairs himself, Singh said he has 8216;8216;great expectations8217;8217; from other bodies, such as the National Manufacturing and Competitiveness Council, the Commission on the Informal and Unorganised Sector and the Investment Commission.

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The PM said there was also 8216;8216;enormous opportunity8217;8217; for PHDCCI in catalysing the transformation of the more backward states.

8216;8216;States have a lot to learn from each other 8212; in policies, in industrial promotion, in social development and in urban management. PHDCCI could develop a pro-active agenda for promoting sharing of information and best practices in this region which would be to the benefit of all,8217;8217; he said.