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US keen on tie-up with India in niche areas

HYDERABAD: India is one of the key countries that the US would like to partner with in niche areas of urban transport and infrastructure projects, said Ronald E. Boenau, member of the high-level US delegation, in an interactive session organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry here on Friday.

The US delegation is here to explore investment opportunities as a sequel to the MoU it had signed with the Union government for cooperation in urban transport in September, 2007, for exchange of latest technology and good practices, said CII AP Chapter vice-chairman Harish Chandra Prasad.

Officials from the Infrastructure Corporation of AP, Railways and the Transport Department gave an overview of investment opportunities in their respective sectors.

INCAP Managing Director K. V. Reddy said the State was already developing ports, regional airports, roads in PPP mode and its Petroleum and Petrochemical Investment Region was being developed to attract investments.

South Central Railway Chief Operations Manager J. N. Jagannath said government was keen on developing dedicated freight corridors in PPP mode, though the initial phase was being funded by the World Bank. Other areas in need of private investment were high speed trains, development of railway stations, container trains.

Transport Commissioner Raymond Peter said there were investment opportunities in automated border check posts, automated vehicle identification, automated fitness testing stations and mobile testing stations, road safety management.

American Public Transport Association Vice-President Arthur Guzzetti said in the US too, trends were positive for public transport fuelled by demographic and energy requirement considerations. The focus was to evolve national standards for safety, reliability, sustainability and best practices.

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