Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari reportedly conveyed that as part of the National Infrastructure Pipeline (NIP), infrastructure projects worth Rs 44 lakh crore are under implementation. The national infrastructure pipeline encapsulates an investment of Rs 111 lakh crore on infrastructure projects by the year 2024-2025. Currently, projects worth Rs 44 lakh crore out of the Rs 111 lakh crore, accounting for 40 per cent are under implementation, while projects worth Rs 22 lakh crore account for 20 per cent are under development stages. The framework of NIP includes 39 per cent investment by the Centre, 40 per cent by states and the remaining 21 percent by the private sector.
Under the NIP, investments worth Rs 25 lakh crore are envisioned in the energy sector, Rs 16 lakh crore in irrigation, rural agriculture and food processing, Rs 20 lakh crore in the highways sector, Rs 16 lakh crore each in mobility and railways and Rs 14 lakh crore for digital infra among others. The highways sector has a huge potential and in five years the toll income was slated to reach an amount of Rs 1 lakh crore from Rs 34,000 crore. The sector holds lucrative investment opportunities given a 100 per cent foreign direct investment (FDI) permitted in the sector.
The Delhi-Mumbai express corridor spanning 1,300 km entailing an investment of Rs 1 lakh crore is likely to be completed in the next two years with 50 per cent of the project already completed, while two more express highway projects worth Rs 65,000 crore will be launched in January 2021. In the MSME sector, the target is to take exports to 60 per cent from 48 per cent at present. Job opportunities for five crore people are planned in the sector in the next five years, while 11 crore jobs have already been created.