Minister for Road, Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari said on Tuesday that the construction sector can expect sales to grow by 40 per cent in coming days.
The central government is making huge investments in major infrastructure and road projects to the tune of Rs 100 lakh crore, he said while inaugurating the 10th edition of South Asia’s biggest construction equipment trade fair CII EXCON in Bengaluru.
The minister said that the private sector should also work on bringing down the construction costs as well as prevent pollution as a result of construction activities. “For the road sector alone, the Centre is investing Rs 2 lakh crore this year. The amount of investment for the next year will increase to Rs 3 lakh crore. Within the next five years, the total government spend on the road infrastructure will be about Rs 17 lakh crore,” Gadkari said.
He further said the private players in the construction industry should focus on adopting advanced technologies and best practices, mechanisation, usage of bio-fuels and innovative usage of raw materials to reduce the construction cost and pollution.
The theme of CII-EXCON 2019 is centred around the advent of digitisation in the construction sector, Smart I-tech – Next Gen India@75 that provides a platform for the Indian and global construction equipment companies to display their latest technological innovations.
Wipro founder and chairman Azim Premji said the central government should allocate 6 per cent of its GDP expenditure towards infrastructure development instead of the current 5 per cent to achieve the $5 trillion economy target.
The CII EXCON this year also focusses on the role of the women in the infrastructure and awarded companies such as Cummins India, JCB India and others.