Financing arm for road, shipping sectors

Union Minister for Roads, Transport & Shipping Nitin Gadkari has proposed to set up a financing corporation for the road and shipping sectors, and push the bureaucracy to take quick decisions on the funding of these projects.

• A proposal for setting up the financing corporation for the two sectors will shortly be placed before the Union Cabinet for its approval.

Details:

• The proposed financing corporation will be in addition to the role of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), which too raises finance for the road sector projects.
• The proposed financing company would be able to tap into both domestic as well as foreign funds for the funding of the projects.

Benefits:

• It will give a sense of security to banks to deal with projects from these sectors.
• It will also revive investments in the infrastructure sector, which has decelerated badly in the past few years.

Also, the country needs a financing company, as the funding for road projects have dried up, especially from the banking sector.