Nath seeks funds for roads from Singapore's Temasek

Transport Minister Kamal Nath today met with top officials of Singapore state-owned investment firm Temasek with a proposal for setting up a dedicated infrastructure fund, which could have a corpus of about $2 billion.

"It is too initial," Nath said, adding that there was a "potential of a dedicated India infrastructure fund" and it was discussed with senior officials of the state-owned Temasek.

The visiting minister said he would like Temasek to "look at the infrastructure fund for India".

The Wall Street Journal had reported yesterday that Indian government was in talks with the Singapore's investment company for setting up a $2 billion dedicated fund for India's road sector requiring investments of about $60 billion in the next four years.

Nath had made the proposal for such a fund to Temasek's top brass last October. He said Temasek views India as one of the most favourable investment destinations.

The investment fund has dedicated global funds in several countries, including China.

India's Road Transport Minister, who has set a target of building 20 km road a day, also met investors from Japan and Europe.

"There has been a very positive sentiment towards investment in India, particularly in the infrastructure sector," he said, adding that the stress in the developed economies has made India a safe investment destination.

He said the Indian infrastructure sector has already received $3 billion in the past 12 months. The inflows included a $500 million investment from Canada's SNC Lavalin engineering and construction group.

He assured global investors of a consistent revenue stream in the road sector in the wake of about 30 per cent annual traffic growth.

He said half of the investment in the road sector would come from the private sector, of which 25 per cent is expected from foreign investors.