Indian Railways targets ₹10 Lakh-cr investment in next 5 years

In an Interactive Session on 'Construction Equipment Industry Challenges and Opportunities', a part of CII EXCON 2019, in his presentation on the status of Indian CE Industry, Vice President, ICEMA & Vice President-Sales & Marketing, Volvo Construction Equipment, Dimitrov Krishnan said, “The CE industry has seen tremendous investments in infrastructure in the last decade, with about half billion equipment installed, the industry has employed approx. 1.2 Billion people. In the next 5 years, as India is aiming towards a 5 trillion economy, the expected investment in infrastructure would be 100 lakh crores and equipment requirement will be at least 8 times of what it is today and it is expected to generate 9 times of the employment. To achieve this, the industry will definitely require help and support from the government. Internally, to accomplish that kind of growth, as an industry we will be focusing on three major things that include investing in R&D, Capacity Enhancement & Skill building. With the support of all the stakeholders, we are very confident that this industry is going to be an able partner to the Government of India to propel this nation from 'Make in India' to 'Building a new India.'

Dwelling in details on key Initiatives planned to accelerate growth of Infrastructure to regain market share, Mr. S. K Mishra, Executive Director (Infra), Ministry of Railways, said “The Government has already taken the decision of allowing 100% FDI in Railway Infrastructure as a significant policy shift to adopt global best practices of world railways and to attract massive investment from all over the world. There will be a substantial increase in the capital expenditure and Indian railways would be investing over ₹10 lakh crore in the next 5 years on various projects. Projects include Doubling or Multiple Tracks to decongest saturated network of which 14,000 km work is in progress and targeted to be completed by March 2024. 100% electrification of Broad Gauge track by December 2021. By March 2023, we will be completing the upgradation of speed to 130 kmph on 18,000 km of busy routes.” Explaining about major initiatives planed in Karnataka, R. K Suryawanshi, RO- Projects, NHAI, said, “Road transport being vital to India's Economy, the infrastructure contributes over 4.7% to the GDP. India's road network carries over 70% of its freight and 85% of passenger traffic making India the second largest country in the road & highway development Industry after the US, and in terms of density we are at number 16 ahead of USA. Road connectivity ensures all round social and economic development of the region. In Karnataka over 17 projects amounting to ₹18,000 crore covering a length of 1386 km are under implementation by NHAI. Another 5 projects amounting to ₹6116 crore covering a length of 280 Km are awarded and the work is likely to be commenced soon during this financial year in the state of Karnataka.” As part of the 10th year celebrations of EXCON, CII has been organizing special activities like exclusive Pavilions on AI, IoT, Robotics, Startups, and Components & Parts among others. The exhibition has been witnessing a series of Conferences and Seminars like, Defence & Paramilitary; MSMEs; Components & Parts; Green Buildings; Smart Cities; Urban Development; Logistics among others. Government of Karnataka is the Host State for CII EXCON 2019. Indian Construction Equipment Manufactures' Association (ICEMA) is the Sector Partner for Excon 2019 and supported by Builders Association of India (BAI). Prior to this, President, ICEMA & MD, Tata Hitachi Construction Machinery, Sandeep Singh, welcomed the participants, exhibitors, delegates and allied attendees in the session.