Publish Date : 07-Jan-2016
Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Tuesday has announced that there will be renovation of 400 nationwide railway stations and to this end, Indian Railways will shortly request bid offers from private sector. Mr. Jaitley added, "Very shortly, the railways is going to come up with its proposed bids for the development of 400 stations in the country." The Finance Minister has made these revelations at the foundation day event of the India Infrastructure Finance Company.
He further said, "The railways have now come on to the right track. They are inviting the private sector, including foreign investments, in infrastructure. GE and Alstom have agreed to make major investments in Bihar." On the state-run transporters moves to lure infrastructure investment, Mr. Jaitley stated, "The railways have issued tax free bonds, have recently managed big financing from LIC (Life Insurance Corporation of India), besides foreign investments."
The Union Minister has emphasized that the effect of economic deceleration across the world will have to be managed through public investment and further said that considerable amount of resources have been pumped into the national highways, rural roads and railways last year. Mr. Jaitley stated, "The result is visible now, that the stalled highway projects have got moving. As a result of increased public investment, even private sector players who got bogged down in their disputes have re-entered the field."
The Finance Minister has also stressed on the renovation and privatization of the state-owned ports sector. He added, "The structure of state sector ports needs a rethink, moving towards privatisation of state-run trust ports." Mr. Jaitley further said, "If major ports don't overhaul their structures, they will seriously fall behind in competition with minor ports."
The Minister has revealed that the National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF) worth Rs 40,000 crore has been set up. While the Union Government will put Rs.20,000 crore into the fund, private sector investors are likely to contribute the remaining amount to facilitate the NIIFs establishment. He has further said that several sovereign and pension funds have expressed willingness to invest in the sector, and the NIIF is in talks with these entities. The first meeting of the NIIF had taken place in New Delhi last week.
Interacting with media after this meeting, Mr. Jaitley, also the head of the NIIF Governing Council, has revealed that they have made discussions on the progress related to the proposals of sovereign funds from the United Arab Emirates, Britain, Russia and Singapore, among other issues. The Union cabinet in last July offered its nods for the formation of the NIIF with a corpus of Rs.20,000 crore for development of the infrastructure sector projects, comprising the stuck schemes.
Go to previous page
