GADKARI 2 LAST(BCM31)

The government is also looking at a hybrid model to The government is also looking at a hybrid model todevelop inland waterway projects on a PPP model, whereinprivate parties will undertake development and will be allowedto charge a user fee, Gadkari said today. Shipping Corporation Chairman and Managing Director BB Sinha said his company has already started a wholly-ownedsubsidiary to focus on inland waterways on the East Coast. The new company, to be headquartered in Kolkata, will begiven a loan of around Rs 1 crore to buy or hire vessels tooperate in the Kolkata-Varanasi/Kolkata-Guwahati routes, theminister said. Asked about his wishlist from new RBI Governor UrjitPatel, Gadkari said there is a need to reduce borrowingcost by at least 2 percentage points as the current cost of upto 12 per cent for infra loans makes a project unviable. Gadkari said he is meeting Finance Minister ArunJaitley on August 26 to present a ‘car scrapping policy’ aspart of the port-led development initiatives. The policy is aimed at taking advantage of the mandateto switch to Euro VI emission norms by April 2020, which willresult in large scale scrapping of vehicles, he said. The minister claimed the auto industry’s revenue can zoomto Rs 20 trillion from the present Rs 4.5 trillion as aresult of such a policy implementation. Gadkari said the government is very sensitive about theshipping sector which is passing through difficult times,and added the Centre is finalising orders of up to Rs 50,000crore to be given to 27 ailing shipbuilding yards. The Ministry will also be introducing a Bill in the nextsession of Parliament to abolish the Tariff Authority forMajor Ports (Tamp), Gadkari said. He said the Government has already formed a company tohandle works of over Rs 12 trillion under the ambitiousSagarmala project, aimed at modernising ports. PTI AA BEN RSYMRJMF