Mr. Vipin Sondhi, Chairman, Excon 2015, has expressed optimism about the prospects of the construction equipment sector in the country by referring to the speed at which the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways is implementing the various projects on hand. In an exclusive chat with MOTORINDIA, he pointed out that it was most essential to address infrastructure deficit on a war footing in order to achieve the targeted industrial growth.
What are the major issues addressed at EXCON 2015?
Fundamentally, EXCON is not about exhibition alone, but it is a set of conferences that take place simltaneously between all stakeholders the government, the private sector and the citizens to look at the bottlenecks that come into play. Now the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has deputed people to participate in these conferences. So issues related to the Ministry will be taken up. Then we will have bank managing directors to look at the financing issues. We will have people from the defence and the Director-General of Border Roads to look at equipment that they need at an altitude of 20,000-25,000 feet, so that we can start preparing for the future. These are the three areas that we will look to address for the future. Since the issues are already known, the attitude would be to let us get on with the decision making.
What has been the current trend especially with respect to government decision making?
In the last two weeks, the decision making in the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has been excellent. A few key decisions were taken. First is full equity divestment after two years of completion of all BOT projects. This, then, enables people to move out and new people to come in. The second is financial assistance to physically revive incomplete and languishing BOT toll projects where 50 per cent of the construction has been completed. If its half way through then why let it languish… give it financial assistance and kickstart that movement. The third is that National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has been allowed to compensate developers for faults that are not theirs like, land acquisition, environment clearance has not happened. What is the developer at fault for? And therefore s/he has to suffer the delay and the cost to it. So now they are allowed to compensate. These are a few major steps forward.
Are you optimistic?
Oh yes, I think Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has already started receiving traction because the construction equipment sector has got the stability after three years which means somewhere the de-growth has stopped. And much of that has to do with the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways. It does not matter that it will take time. Fundamentally, we have got to address infrastructure deficit for 20 years and this will go on for as long as there is positive movement, it is enough. If the sector’s optimism were empty, we would not be investing. After all, we represent people who represent business and we are responsible for returns and all, so optimism cannot be empty. Ultimately, some body puts money on the ground (reality).
What are the expectations of the sector?
All the projects with the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways which are stuck… take the top 50 projects of national importance – we have been saying it for a long time and it is being done. So top 50 important projects across the board, be it ports, airports, railways, or any such and monitor them through the PMO’s office and execute them. What it will do is it will start a virtuous cycle. If you can do that, you are actually addressing the concerns of these projects and the same concerns are bothering all the other projects as well. So the moment these get addressed and a policy then gets made and if then it gets built into the bidding document for the next project and we move forward.