India to ink pact with UK, China to build highways: Nath

India will enter into a pact with China in the area of highways development and once the agreement is reached, Chinese investment will treble in the road sector, the government today said.

Also a pact with the UK will be signed next week for greater cooperation in areas of highway development, consultancy and road safety among others, it said.

"MoU with China is in a draft stage, once the draft is finalised and agreement is reached, Chinese investment in the highways sector will treble," Road Transport and Highways Minister Kamal Nath told reporters on the sidelines of the 49th annual session of Cement Manufacturers' Association.
    
China is interested to invest in the highways sector and is willing to provide technology, project management, design and engineering, he said.
    
China is already present in the road sector, he said adding that nine Chinese companies are building six highways schemes in the country and "it is going to commit more".
    
At present Chinese companies are constructing six road projects at a cost of about Rs 2478.32 crore, including four on Hyderabad-Bangalore stretches and one project each on build, operate and transfer (BoT) basis in Kerala and Gujarat.
    
Nath had met Minister of Transport, China, Li Shenglin, in Beijing last week during his visit to the country and said that a quantum jump in road building targets in India provided huge opportunities to the Chinese construction companies as also the financial institutions to enhance their engagement with India.
    
He had said that the preferred mode of highway development in India is Public Private Partnership (PPP) and 60 per cent of the national highways would be developed under the BoT toll mode.
    
Earlier, addressing the Cement Manufacturers Association, he said that China has built a huge infrastructure for future while India is in the process of building them to bridge the past deficit.
    
At present, around 35,000 km of national highways is under construction in China of which 10,000 km is likely to be completed this year.
    
On the other hand, India has also embarked on an ambitious road building programme with a target of constructing 20 km of highways a day.
    
About the proposed pact with the UK next week, Nath said, "MoU with the United Kingdom will be held next week and we are looking at investments from UK besides cooperation in the areas of consultancy and technology."
    
The MoU will enable greater government to government cooperation helping India gain from the best practices and experiences of UK in the field, he added.