Invest India signs MoU with key Singapore infra platform on capacity building for National Infrastructure Pipeline

Singapore, Aug 3 (PTI) Invest India, a national investment promotion and facilitation agency, on Wednesday signed a MoU with Singapore's Infrastructure Asia to jointly work on capacity building and sharing of knowledge as India implements its USD 1.4 trillion National Infrastructure Pipeline (NIP).

India's National Infrastructure Pipeline (NIP) is a first-of-its-kind, whole-of-government exercise to provide world-class infrastructure to citizens and improve their quality of life. It aims to improve project preparation and attract investments into infrastructure “This MoU is targeted more at capacity building, sharing knowledge and making more introductions,” Invest India Vice President Rahul Agarwal told PTI.

“This is more to learn from Singapore and broader Asia and likewise they can learn from us (India),” he said.

Infrastructure Asia, a Singapore based platform for infra players to discuss key issues, will bring the Singapore eco system into India and Invest India will act as facilitator into the country.

“We are actually becoming a bridge to connect Singapore's eco system to that of India's,” said Agarwal.

He added: “We are trying to take it deeper and broader, especially from doing more technical work.” Agarwal exchanged the MoU with Infrastructure Asia Executive Director Lavan Thiru after the two-day infrastructure forum.

Agarwal also shared the progress on the USD 1.4 trillion for the NIP, saying, “We will complete this funding as we are working across the sectors.” “We working on the highway Bharatmala Pariyojana program and constructing more than 10,000-km of highways every year.” On the renewable front, 125 GW has been delivered while 50-GW is under construction now.

He is confident of achieving an almost 175 GW renewable energy target by the end of this year.

Initial investments have also started coming in from investors in the United Arab Emirates and other funds in the National Infrastructure Fund.

Investments are coming in from DP World in logistics while investors are active on the road and renewable platforms plus affordable housing and new sectors. “All is (being) done well,” he added.

Asia Infrastructure Forum discussed projects in India with an elaborate presentation on POWERGRID development programmes.

The panel discussion was on “Unlocking Value Through Infrastructure Asset Recycling in India”, which showcased potential Road and Power assets within the National Monetisation Pipeline (NMP). PTI GS RUP RUP RUP