Gadkari Addresses the Global Symposium on Project Management

`Innovation and entrepreneurship is key to creating a project oriented India’, said the Minister for Road Transport, Highways and Shipping, Shri Nitin Gadkari here today. He was addressing the 22nd global symposium on `Project Mindset – The key to competitiveness’, organized jointly by International Project Management Association (IPMA) and PMA-India. Quoting the recent study by CRISIL Research, India’s largest independent research house, the Minister said that road projects of his ministry raced ahead as Government stepped on gas. Of the sixteen projects awarded in 2013-14, work has already begun on twelve and 75% of projects awarded last fiscal has already been executed, he added. Giving speed to stuck-up projects could be possible only by way of thinking out-of-the-box, he further added. The Minister said that deficiencies in project designing, environment clearance, land acquisition and construction of railway bridges are some of the major problems for road projects and, therefore, these hurdles should be taken an account of in an effective project management consultancy. Cooperation, coordination and communication between different stakeholders may give a perfect shape to any project management consultancy, he emphasized. A thrust on cost-effectiveness without compromising on quality should be the staple thought behind a project management consultancy, the minister added. The Minister also presented awards in the valedictory session of the Symposium.