The highway sector hold lucrative investment opportunities, said Nitin GadkariUnion Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari said that as part of the National Infrastructure Pipeline (NIP), infrastructure projects worth Rs 44 lakh crore are under implementation.

While addressing the CII Partnership Summit 2020, the minister said that the national infrastructure pipeline encapsulates an investment of Rs 111 lakh crore on infrastructure projects by the year 2024-2025.

Currently, projects worth Rs 44 lakh crore out of the Rs 111 lakh crore, accounting for 40 per cent are under implementation, while projects worth Rs 22 lakh crore account for 20 per cent are under development stages.

He added that the framework of the NIP involves 39 per cent investment by the central government, 40 per cent investment by the states, and 21 per cent by the private sector.Under the national infrastructure pipeline, investments worth Rs 25 lakh crore are envisioned in the energy sector, Rs 16 lakh crore in irrigation, rural agriculture and food processing, 20 lakh crore in the highways sector, Rs 16 lakh crore each in mobility and railways and Rs 14 lakh crore for digital infra among others.

According to Mr Gadkari, the highways sector has a huge potential and in five years the toll income was slated to reach an amount of Rs 1 lakh crore from Rs 34,000 crore.

He stated that it holds lucrative investment opportunities given a 100 per cent foreign direct investment (FDI) permitted in the sector.The Delhi-Mumbai express corridor project, worth Rs 1 lakh crore, covering a distance of 1,300 km is expected to be completed in the next two years.

Around 50 per cent of the corridor is already completed.

While in the next month, two more expressway projects, worth an amount of Rs 65,000 crore will be launched, said the minister.While talking about the micro small and medium enterprises (MSME) sector, the minister said that it has a significant role in redefining the country's economy and the target is to take exports to 60 per cent from 48 per cent.