IRB chief Virendra Mhaiskar charts India’s infrastructure development and the road ahead

New Delhi, June 02, 2018: IRB Infrastructure, India’s leading road developing company, is known for its wonderful track record when it comes to building highways and roads in the country. It has completed several complex projects, and it is the first company to have successfully completed the first BOT project of the country.

Recently, it also forayed into the HAM space. The MD of the company, Mr Virendra Mhaiskar has a vision to transform the Indian roads and make them world class. He believes that there are numerous opportunities in highway development in India and is upbeat about its future.

Speaking to the World Finance about India’s recent growth story reflecting in its infrastructure, Mr Mhaiskar said that India is on a threshold of a big jump in its infrastructure. According to him, the highway sector is likely to outperform in the years to come. Although India has lacked in highway development, but in the last 5-6 years it has caught up quite a lot and will be a significant economic driver in the future. Given below are the excerpts:

Is there a huge potential for new developments?

Virendra Mhaiskar: Even 1 per cent of the 3.3 million kms highway network is not 4 lane. India has not scratched the surface as far as highway development is concerned. Considering the economy, we deserve better infrastructure as far as highways are concerned, and we are moving towards that.

IRB has emerged as a leader in India’s road sector, what have been the landmarks in the company’s development?

Virendra Mhaiskar: IRB was the first company to bag the toll road project in the country way back in 1995. By now, we have many concessions with us and some of the large concessions in the country belong to our company, which constitutes Mumbai-Pune Expressway or the entire length of highway between Mumbai and Bharuch in Gujarat, now spanning across six states. This concession on public-private-partnership (PPP) basis would contribute to the economic growth of the country.

What are the highlights among your current projects?

Virendra Mhaiskar:The Golden Quadrilateral highway network connects the four metros. We have bagged 10 percent of highway length of this corridor, and it will be with IRB for the next 20-25 years. This will contributeto the development of the country.

India’s infra growth depends on 5 Year Plans drawn by the government. What can we expect in the next plan?

Virendra Mhaiskar:There is a change in the planning process.Earlier, India had 3 percent of GDP for infra development, which is now increasing quite a lot. That would be a significant contribution to take these projects further. There is already an identified plan as far as roads are concerned. We think in the next couple of years, India would be avoiding $70 billion of projects in the road sector in PPP model. We see a huge opportunity there. We will witness tremendous growth in HW.

How would you summarise the road forward for IRB?

Virendra Mhaiskar:Going forward,IRB infrastructure is poised to grow its portfolio on the road side. We see a huge opportunity unfolding infront of us. At this point, we would like to remain focused on developing and growing this portfolio in the road sector. We would surely try to look at other opportunities. But, right now, we will remain focused on highway development in the next 5 years, given the opportunities in the market today.

Corporate Comm India(CCI Newswire)