Infrastructure push can boost GDP growth by 3%: Gadkari

India's shipping sector has witnessed a better performance this year with 12 ports showing profits to the tune of Rs 6,000 crore, says Gadkari

Union Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari on Friday said infrastructure sector has the potential to boost the country's GDP growth by up to 3% and the Centre is making all efforts to achieve this target.

"Infrastructure as a sector is not just an employment generator but also a growth engine. By ensuring that land acquisition processes are less complicated and with improved cross ministerial coordination to get projects cleared, the cost of projects has been optimised," the Minister of Road Transport, Highways and Shipping said.

"This has facilitated the return of investor interest in road projects. Initiatives like construction of 40 kilometres of roads every day, building the 14 express-highways and exploring the potential of in-land waterways can boost our GDP growth by 2-3%," he said.

Gadkari, who was the chief guest at the launch of InfraCircle — an infrastructure-focused digital platform of News Corp VCCircle, said that "India's shipping sector has witnessed a better performance this year with 12 ports showing profits to the tune of Rs 6,000 crore. We intend to make this figure Rs 7,000 crore in the next financial year".

Speaking about the scope for innovation in the sector, Gadkari said, "We realise that pollution is a serious problem and believe that 100% ethanol oil based buses can ply on Indian roads. Our government is looking at electric modes of transport to address the problem of pollution in the Capital over the next 400 days.