Six months into the new financial year and almost four months in office, Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Kamal Nath sees “ill effects” of the global downturn waning. In an interview with Mihir Mishra and Jyoti Mukul, Nath, who as the commerce and industry minister in the previous UPA government was part of the fire-fighting to minimise impact of the slowdown, says that the current year will be better than the last year. Excerpts Join discussion...

What target have you set yourself? A: We have to make a visible difference. I looked at what makes a visible difference across the country. It was a minimum of 7,000 kilometres a year. Now, 7,000 translates into approximately 20 (kilometres per day) and we were doing about 2 (kilometres per day). And I said from 2 to 20 we are going to make this quantum jump. Join discussion...

His entry into the ministry of road transport and highways has been welcomed as a breath of fresh air and brought life into a sector that saw Kamal Nath, Minister of Road Transport and Highways little progress over the last five years. True to expectations, Kamal Nath set the much-talked about target of building 20-kilometers of highways per day and announced an ambitious plan to invest 1 lakh crore in developing the roads in the next one year. Join discussion...

It is hoped that the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways will be one of the high performers in this government and it’s widely believed that the Prime Minister deliberately chose Kamal Nath to head this ministry to give it the impetus and the push that it badly needs. Join discussion...

Gajendra Haldea, principal advisor (infrastructure) in the Planning Commission, believes in public private partnerships for growth. He gave the country the model for its first major PPP road project, from Jaipur to Kishangarh. With the poor performance of the roads sector being blamed on the PPP model, he tells Mihir Mishra and Vandana Gombar that the real problem is the attitude and working of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and not the PPP route. Join discussion...

How much should the sector depend on private investment and how much will government spending be stepped up in view of the slowdown? Estimates peg the infrastructure requirement of the country at $500 billion. The government, therefore, needs the private sector. Both Indian companies and global infrastructure players have to step in and take advantage of the huge potential for doing business in India. However, there are roads that will not be attractive for private players, and the government has to play a predominant role in developing those. Join discussion...

Vinayak Chatterjee, Chairman of Feedback Ventures, said he has no major expectations for the infrastructure sector from the interim Budget but added that repayment terms for realty companies could be eased. Join discussion...