Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari said on Friday that India’s road network is moving towards becoming the largest globally and urged government officials to encourage new global standards and practices in the highways sector. Gadkari said infrastructure is critical for India to become “Vishwaguru” and an economic power.

“India’s road network will become the largest road network in the world. Highways facilitate trade, business, and industry, which in turn promotes capital investment and employment, which helps alleviate poverty. We want to make India prosperous and work towards the welfare of the poor, farmers and labourers. We want to make India an economic power with a futuristic growth vision,” Gadkari said in his address at the 84th annual session of the Indian Road Congress on Friday.  

Gadkari urged the government officials to adopt the best global practices in the infrastructure sector. “Our mission is to make India a Vishwaguru. For that, we need good infrastructure. We need world-class infrastructure in the water, power, transport, and communication segments.  The kind of technology that we are going to use in the construction of roads, bridges, and tunnels becomes very critical,” Gadkari said.  

“It should be 100% perfect quality-wise and at the same time, we need to plan it in a way that we are able to lower the construction cost,” he said.

“This is the appropriate time to upgrade technology, research, and innovation in the sector. India is the fastest-growing economy in the world. The dream of our Prime Minister is to make India the third-largest economy in the world,” he added.

Gadkari urged government officials to think outside the box and come up with innovative solutions without being bogged down by failures. “IRC has been setting up codes, guidelines and design practices. I would urge you to kindly look at how they compare with the global standards and parameters. We want to take India ahead globally,” he said.  

“We need to introduce and implement new international practices, new codes, guidelines, and design practices. They must be encouraged. New experiments need to be done. And when we try our hands at new things, some initiatives will succeed while others will fail,” he said.  

“If the mistakes are bona fide, they must be forgiven. If the mistakes are mala fide, then one may take action. But if new initiatives are not encouraged and the status quo is maintained, then how will we accept the global best practices,” he added.

Gadkari said there is a need for ownership, a serious approach, and commitment to quality, transparency and a corruption-free system. “At the same time, we need to protect our ecology and environment. We need to have a policy for the redeployment of waste materials. I always believe in the philosophy that no material is waste and no person is waste. It is dependent upon the appropriate vision of the leadership, and appropriate technology through which we can convert waste into wealth,” said Gadkari.