New Delhi, July 11 (KNN) With a view to improve the India-US cooperation in the Transport and Highways sector, Union Minister for Road Transport, Highways & Shipping Minister Nitin Gadkari will hold  talks with his counter-part US Secretary of Transportation, Anthony Foxx in Washington today later, on a wide range of projects of mutual interest.

The official release says, Gadkari will be looking for widening and deepening the scope of Indo-US cooperation in innovative technologies for improving highway development, road engineering, road safety,  development of green fuels in automobile sector and electric vehicles.

Gadkari will also  with the US captains of trade and industry and pioneers in the maritime sector, where the Minister will highlight investment opportunities in the Indian maritime sector and invite US investments in building ports, port-led industrialization, coastal economic zones, construction of new berths/terminals in existing ports like JNPT, Mumbai and Kandla Ports. He will also investments in the areas of  capital and maintenance dredging, mechanization, hinterland connectivity etc.

Government of India  envisage 50 to 60 Billion USD foreign investment for infrastructure and another 100 Billion USD towards industrial development for port-led economic growth in the maritime sector and inland waterways, water transport, coastal and cruise shipping etc.  to further boost the country’s growth momentum. Government hopes  to add two percentage points in India’s GDP through creating world-class infrastructure. India clocked 7.6 per cent growth rate in 2015-16 when there was a global slowdown.

More than 150 projects were identified under the ambitious Sagarmala Programme at the recent Maritime India Summit in Mumbai. India has 7,500 Kms. long coastline, 212 ports, 70 coastal districts, one billion tone cargo handling currently, 111 waterways and 90 % of export-import trade (by volume) handled at ports. Also there is a huge potential for tapping hundreds of islands and lighthouses for tourism. (With PIB Inputs)