In his address as Chief Guest to the Inaugural Session, Mr Oscar Fernandes, Hon’ble Minister of Road Transport and Highways, Government of India said that though the exhibition of Excon has been organized at a time when there is a downturn in the world and India’s economy, it is heartening to see that CII has been successful in bringing in people from all over the world in such great numbers to showcase India’s own achievements in developing such equipments for infrastructure growth. “I congratulate for this great achievement. I am also happy that large number of companies from abroad have partnered in this exhibition”, he said.
He highlighted that time management is a very crucial factor in the efficient project implementation and all large infrastructure projects should have a project management system for speedy implementation. It is a very poor management if a project of 3-years takes 10 years to complete. Speedy management also makes a project economically viable and profitable, he said.
“At present, the Government has started work on several new infrastructure projects including three airports, two ports, an elevated rail-corridor in Mumbai, and almost 6,000 miles of new roads. We are also planning to build Expressways through innovative financing models,” Mr Fernandes said.
“The government is also aware that the infrastructure projects often suffer from lack of funding or subject to many conditions by the lenders before funding. So the government has directed the lenders to take ‘Assets’ into account for funding projects. We are also urging on development of maintenance-free roads which initially may cost a little more but in the long run is much more economical,” he said. Electronic tolling is another area where the trial is going on, we have got the latest technology which establishes contacts with the toll booth almost a kilometre away for the toll gate to open. This will help overcome major pile up of traffic at toll gates, Mr Fernandes said. “We sincerely believe that there is a need to strengthen PPP in the Road sector which would act as a critical precursor for sustaining the growth momentum for the economy,” he said.
With the theme on ‘Propelling Sustainable Infrastructure Growth’, the seventh edition of the premier event for the CE industry will see the participation of over 730 exhibitors reaching out to 35,000+ business visitors, besides participation of 18 countries with country pavilions from Germany, Japan, Italy, Turkey, South Korea, Sweden and China. The Excon 2013 is supported by the Ministry of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises and the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways, Government of India. Government of Karnataka is the Partner State for EXCON 2013. The Indian Construction Equipment Manufacturers’ Association (ICEMA) is the Sector Partner.
In his address as Guest of Honour, Minister for Transport, Government of Karnataka, Mr Ramalinga Reddy said “Government of Karnataka has a close association with CII to promote the industries of the state.
“We have enormous plan for the growth of the state across all districts,” he said, mentioning that one such initiative is Bangalore-Mumbai Economic Corridor.
In his special address at the inaugural event of Excon 2013 Mr S Gopalakrishnan, President CII, said that Excon this year has attained new heights with 17 per cent growth in number of participants.
He pointed out that the pace of growth in infrastructure in India has not kept pace with demands and it is a major challenge for the country. Highways, modern bridges, world-class airports, reliable power, and clean water are in desperately short supply. Gopalakrishnan highlighted that infrastructure development is a critical enabler for economic growth as the lack of it impedes India’s GDP growth rate by 1-2 per cent per annum.
He was of the view that the Industrial Corridors will play key role in overall development of the nation by removing bottlenecks for freight movement between the industrial regions and major ports of the country. CII has been engaging with the central & state and other stakeholders to work towards making Public Private Partnerships – PPPs – as one of the important means to increasing investments in Indian infrastructure.
In his theme address, Mr Vipin Sondhi, Chairman, EXCON 2013 said “The scope and reach of EXCON has been growing over the years and today we see the greatest number of industry and visitor participation, making EXCON 2013 the biggest ever exhibition of CE not just in India but also in South Asia.”
He pointed out that 20 road-shows have been held in India and abroad to reach out to potential customers, over 100 new product launches are expected in the Excon. Infrastructure is critical for the economic growth as this alone can increase the GDP by 2 per cent growth in a year, he pointed out. According to Mr Sondhi, several steps have been taken by the government in the last 12 to 18 months to provide fillip to the sector and he mentioned two important ones: one for setting up a cabinet committee on investment to de-bottleneck and fast track some of the big ticket infra projects. But unfortunately the impact is still not felt.
In his concluding remarks Mr Sumit Mazumder, Vice President, CII said that that in India, construction is the second largest economic activity after agriculture. Construction accounts for nearly 65 per cent of the total investment in infrastructure and is expected to be the biggest beneficiary of the surge in infrastructure investment over the next five years.
“The growth of India’s construction equipment industry is directly linked to the growth of the country’s economy, since it is driven by increased investments in the infrastructure and related sectors.” Excon highlights the potential of the construction equipment industry and showcases the opportunities of the entire infrastructure sector of the country.
Earlier in his welcome remarks Mr Soumitra Bhattacharya, Chairman, CII Karnataka said there is an urgent need to increase public spending substantially and at the same time create an investment conducive environment to encourage greater private sector participation in creation of infrastructure. “Excon very much falls into the purview of the theme. It contributes to both the economy and to infrastructure,” he said.
