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Union Minister for Road Transport, Highway and Shipping Nitin Gadkari has launched two e-books on various developmental activities, initiatives and achievements of his ministry on the completion of the six months of the Narendra Modi government.

The e-books were launched to mark “Good Governance Day” on the 90th birthday of former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

“Road transport and shipping are very important sectors for the development of the country. Our challenge  is to reduce the cost, while enhancing the quality of road construction in the country,” Gadkari said, adding that  the government is giving priority to solving bottlenecks coming in the way of development of roads.

The minister said, “The target is to construct 30 km of roads per day. Also, development of inland waterways should be given priority as it is much cheaper mode of transport.”

He further said, “Government will promote bio-fuels in public transport and the ministry has undertaken several comprehensive initiatives in different sectors.”

The initiatives in the Road Transport and Highways Sector include:

• Policy initiatives covering encouragement to investment in PPP projects, mode of delivery of projects, increased threshold for project approval, enhanced inter-ministerial coordination, fast track dispute resolution, amendments to the Model Concession Agreement, current focus on EPC, Project packaging, Electronic Toll Collection(ETC).
• Initiatives in Road Transport sector include New Road Transport and Safety Bill, According High priority to Road safety, constitution of National Road Safety & Management Board, New National Permit Policy for passenger Vehicles is being finalised, development of wayside amenities.
• Restructuring of the Cancelled Projects, Reviving of Stalled Projects, Integrating Border Check posts with Toll Plazas, Swachh Bharat Abhiyan and Road Side Amenities.
• Fostering regional connectivity amongst neighbouring countries.
• Focus on streamlining of office procedure like speedy redressal of public grievances, simplification of forms, digitisation of records and recording and weeding out of files.
• E-Governance initiatives covering e-tendering, Security of Women in Public Road Transport , Nirbhaya Fund Scheme, Integrated Vehicle Registration and driving licensing system, etc.

The initiatives in the Shipping Sector include:

• One time general trade license for Indian ships.
• Simplification of procedure to determine light dues for container ships.
• E-payment of light dues from 1st April 2015.
• e-payment of fees for all ship licensing services has been operationalised, with paperless transactions.
• ERP system implemented in Cochin Shipyard and implementation of ERP to be complete in all major ports by December 2015.
• Procedures for grant of permission for India-Bangladesh protocol vessels electronically enabled.
• Online examination and online counselling for common. Entrance test for maritime courses by Indian maritime university.
• New scheme to part fund green initiatives of major ports.
• Solar energy & wind energy to power lighthouses.

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