The objective of this forum convened by the Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry was to understand the direction and volume of infrastructure development of various states and how much they were integrated with the planning and overall infrastructure development of the nation. A number of eminent personalities from various infrastructure companies joined the summit.
Raghav Raj Kanoria, MD, India Power Corporation Ltd., said that the infra-structure sector had to grow with a growth rate of 2xGDP. India needed active participation of private players to reach investment targets and they should be secured from losses. Rakesh Kumar, General Manager, IIFCL, stated that in the next five years there is going to be 10 lakh crore total investments in infra projects. IIFCL was a means of giving alternative funding. IIFCL had a mandate in financing for long periods of the project tenure which could go up to 85% of a project. Every rupee invested in infra sector led to 20 paise growth to GDP. K.V. Praveen, Executive VP & Business Unit Head, Roads, Runways and Elevated Corridor Business, Larsen & Toubro Limited stated that the concept of federalism was the existence of a synergy between central government and state government to address the success of infra projects and this was the need of the hour.
A special plenary session on “Containerisation in India-Changing the landscape of logistics infrastructure” was presented by V.Kalyana Rama, Chairman & Managing Director, CONCOR, who said that they were looking to provide with complete logistic solutions for various stakeholders. At CONCOR they were trying to develop Multi Mono Logistic parks. Already 15 such parks have been made. They were trying to look for opportunities there. The 3PL logistics is needed for agri sector and industrial goods. He mentioned that studies show logistics cost in India is 14%. Proper planning can bring this down.
Santi Pada Gon Chaudhuri, Chairman, State Solar Power Council, Govern-ment of Tripura, said that earlier the government was using solar energy to provide power to remote villages. But currently there has been a global shift with regards to solar power. The cost of solar energy from 2010 has come down from Rs. 17/kilowatt / hr to Rs. 2.40 in India. With low cost of solar power many players showed interest in setting solar plants. But one of the major challenges of that sector in east was low intensity of sunshine and rainy months. As a result, the cost of generation was higher yet yield was less. In West Bengal the cost of generation of solar power would never be less than Rs.4 - Rs. 4.50.
— Reported by BE Bureau
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