NIDHI TAPARIA
After Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s concerted efforts to forge strong ties with leading nations of the world, his Ministers are now carrying the development-through-cooperation agenda forward at their respective levels. Union Minister Nitin Gadkari is the latest one to take a step forward in this direction. German Transport Minister along with his delegation met the Minister on October 14, 2016, for a detailed discussion on the infrastructural collaboration that the two nations can seek. This included developing projects worth Rs. 1 Lakh crore for improvement in port connectivity.
Gadkari, the Union Road transport, Highways and Shipping Minister, held intense discussions with his German counterpart Alexander Dobrindt and the Deutsche delegation on October 14. The purpose of the meeting was to identify possible, feasible and viable areas wherein the two nations could cooperate and implement various developmental projects. It was “a very fruitful meeting” and Indo-German “cooperation will deepen” consequently, as noted by the Indian minister.
The Ministry sought Germany’s cooperation in development of infrastructure which includes port and railways connectivity, a project worth one trillion rupees. The project will be undertaken under the aegis of the newly established Indian Port Rail Corporation Ltd (IPRCL). The collaboration will not only be focusing on railway-port connectivity, but shall also extend to waterways and road infrastructure, added Gadkari. Representatives from IPRCL and Deutsche Bahn (DB) will form groups to identify further areas of cooperation and alongside that, new rail technologies that are both effective and cost efficient, as proposed in the meeting held on Friday.
This step would lead to the obvious inflow of foreign investment in the country and with that cost effective and innovative technology transfers from automobile giant Germany will also be initiated. Additionally, cooperation is also being sought for advanced and environment-friendly technology for multiple purposes. This includes scrapping out of old polluting vehicles, processing the waste generated by the scrapping process and bringing flex fuel run cars.
The proposed Voluntary Vehicle Fleet Modernisation Programme (V-VMP) is aimed towards getting rid of heavy vehicles that pollute the most i.e. are more than 15 years old in the first phase. As per the ministry, this policy can reduce vehicular emission by 25-30 per cent and save oil consumption by 3.2 billion litres a year. Also, as a part of the Government’s flagship Make in India programme, German automobile manufacturers will be called upon to produce cars that run on flex fuel, a cleaner alternative to traditional ones.
It must be noted here that the process of collaboration between the two nations in the infrastructure sector was initiated during the Maritime India Summit 2016, held earlier this year. IPRCL and the DB Engineering & Consulting (part of German Railways Deutsche Bahn AG) had come to an understanding and signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) pertaining to modernization of 25 ports in India.
The Indian Port Rail Cooperation Limited has been recently set up by the Government of India to improve rail port connectivity projects identified under the government’s ambitious Sagarmala Project. The Sagarmala Project seeks to augment and modernise Indian ports so that the nation can benefit from its long coastline as much as possible. The Corporation has been entrusted with the task of carrying out the feasibility of 22 projects. It has been established to look into serious and interrelated matters like efficient evacuation of cargo, reducing logistics costs and last mile connectivity of ports.
Altogether, the infrastructure ministry is aiming to achieve not only short-term objectives that promise poll successes, but also long-term ones that will contribute massively towards the bigger development picture.
(The writer is associated with St Xavier’s College, Rajasthan University)