New Delhi: Union Minister for Road Transport, Highways, Shipping MSME Nitin Gadkari has called for increased investment by international institutions and bodies in the Indian Highways and MSME sectors. He said, automobile and MSME are the two growth engines of Indian economy. Addressing the Indo-Australian Chamber of Commerce and Womennovator on Trade Investment and collaborations in Road infrastructure and MSMEs on Wednesday, the Minister said, India and Australia are already co-operating in the road safety sector. He said, this cooperation has provided better designs for roads and awareness opportunities for the public.
Under Indian Road Safety Assessment Programme, 21 thousand km roads have been assessed and about 3000 km road length is under technological upgradation. He said, better road engineering and increased public awareness have brought improvement. He added that it is estimated that these upgradation programmes will bring about 50 per cent reduction in Road accidents. Mr Gadkari informed that the objective is to set out to achieve zero road fatalities by 2030