This year鈥檚 10th India Construction Festival was
special. It grew and how! Nearly 5,000 visitors
attended the Roads & Highways Sustainable
Technologies & Advancements (RAHSTA) Expo,
the 22nd Construction World Global Awards with
Engineering News-Record, the 12th Equipment India
Awards, the RAHSTA Awards and the
14th RAHSTA Conference held at Jio Convention
Centre on October 9-10 in Mumbai. You will find the
mood play out across the photo feature being
provided to you with this issue. Industry doyens,
practitioners, academicians, entrepreneurs and experts
kept the event fully charged right through the two
days. Bookings for next year鈥檚 RAHSTA Expo, to be
held on September 3-4, 2025, have already begun!
Further, the National during the last ten years
Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has requested
FIRST Construction Council to provide it a summary of
recommendations from the deliberations that were
part of the 14th RAHSTA Conference.
The other reason the festival was special was the
launch of my book, Tarmac to
Towers - India鈥檚 Infrastructure
Story, published by Westland
Books. The book is available on
Amazon and stores all over India.
It captures the trajectory of India鈥檚
experiments with infrastructure
beginning with the Golden
Quadrilateral project, the PPP
initiatives, and the highs and lows
of investments and policies. It
assesses where the infrastructure
story regressed and stalled, how
the current regime has spurred its
pace in the past 10 years and, despite that, where the
current deficits lie. Finally, the book puts forth
15 transformative ideas to accelerate India鈥檚
opportunity to becoming a developed nation. I am
thankful to Amitabh Kant, Nandan Nilekani and
SN Subrahmanyan for their endorsement for my book.
The jury of the 22nd Construction World Global Awards
launched the book at the festival and I look forward to
receiving your feedback too, dear readers, as my
columns in this magazine have helped me keep track
of the progress of the nation鈥檚 infrastructure. You can
provide your feedback ideally on Amazon, or you
could tag me on LinkedIn or Twitter.
The final reason for the festival to be special was
the discovery of new companies that topped the
awards in all categories of the 22nd Construction World
Global Awards. ITD Cementation, which grabbed the
top spot as the fastest growing construction company
in the large category, has been acquired by Adani Group making its debut in the EPC business. Kalpataru
Projects International scored as the fastest growing
company in the ultra large category, making its debut
into our annual listing. Varindera Construction took the
top spot in the small category while Ceigall India made
its mark in the medium category.
The recently held BRICS summit has kickstarted the
process of reconciliation between India and China.
China already has a huge trade with India and,
therefore, it makes sense to mend fences. India, too,
could benefit if it allowed the Chinese to harness
Indian markets, provided the Chinese set up
manufacturing facilities in India. Chinese investments
in manufacturing could help boost Indian exports.
Some of this could be routed back to China, especially
if these manufacturing facilities are built to feed global
demand as in the case of construction equipment.
Vietnam has already benefitted by playing ball as soon
as US sanctions blocked direct Chinese exports to the
US. The Chinese could be asked to rely on and build
an Indian supply chain
Decentralisation would be a key driver for growth if
India has to achieve its goals. States have to become
more sustainable and be watchful of their debt while
cities ought to build a case for raising their own funds
and deploy them wisely for bettering the lives of
citizens. The disparity in income currently with a
majority of citizens needing basic amenities allows
administrators to get away with basic provisions of
necessities. But more developed cities with higher per
capita income will have to execute projects to keep up
with the aspirations of those who provide employment
and contribute taxes. The Maharashtra elections are a
case in point where the government, despite its
huge indebtedness, had to showcase the Atal Setu,
Coastal Road and Metro Rail Line 3, among others,
to claim credit among voters. That said, corruption
has not eased and ease of doing business is still a work
in progress.
Best wishes for a happy and prosperous Diwali!
