The Chinese presence in India’s highway construction sector is now limited to just four companies who are joint venture partners of local firms in over a dozen stretches with a total length of less than 1,000 km. Though this is a marginal role in a country, which has been constructing over 10,000 km of highways annually over the last few years and aims to increase the construction manifold, road transport and highway minister Nitin Gadkari’s decision to bar Chinese firms from participating in Indian road projects could be dampener for the neighbouring country, given its apparent plans to bag more highway projects in India.
Banning Chinese firms will not hamper construction of highways, as Indian firms have sufficient capability, the National Highway Authority of India’s member-projects RK Pandey says. There is hardly any proof that presence of Chinese firms ensures faster pace of construction, he adds.
