Kolkata, Dec 22 (IANS) The central government will bid out 8,000 km of road construction contracts in the current fiscal, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia said Tuesday.
“In comparison, the government bid out 2,000 km of road construction contracts during the last three years,” Ahluwalia told a CII-organised national conference on leadership.

Speaking via video conferencing from New Delhi, Ahluwalia said he was not “dissatisfied” with the pick-up in infrastructure which saw larger government funding because of the economic downturn.

He said the success of the infrastructure investment made by the government could be judged if the position was reviewed 18 months from now.

Giving an outline of the thrust in the government’s economic policy, Ahluwalia said: “We want to create an environment where competitive forces remain strong and ensure economy becomes open.”

The government would also ensure there was no unfair competition and create infrastructure by taking help of the Public Private Partnership model.

Recalling that the 11th five-year plan had envisaged that 30 percent of the infrastructure spending should be through the PPP route, he said: “There should be a big increase in infrastructure spending including in expanding rural infrastructure”.

“Half of our population depends on agriculture. But agriculture contributes to only 17 percent of our GDP. So, if we can improve rural infrastructure, it will increase productivity of land and other linkages.”

Ahluwalia said the manufacturing sector also has to grow by 10-12 percent if the economy was to record a sustainable nine percent growth.

He also made a strong pitch for labour sector reforms, describing the country’s labour laws as “unduly restrictive”.

“There is a huge reluctance among investors to get exposed to the huge labour force,” he said, and pointed to the need to engage the labour unions in debates on the matter.

“We are failing to convince the unions that labour reforms are in their interest. They think their bargaining power will go down if the labour laws are relaxed.”