Caterpillar is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of construction and mining equipment, diesel and natural gas engines, industrial gas turbines and diesel-electric locomotives. Mr Tipirneni senses big opportunities in new projects proposed by government and believes speedy execution of the same will do the trick.
Road Ministry’s targets creating opportunityRoad Ministry targets building 25-km of roads per day. It is a good opportunity for the infrastructure sector, if the government is able to ease the difficulties in achieving financial closure, land acquisition especially at the state level, and issues related to environment and forest clearance that continue to hamper progress of road development projects in various stages.
Speedy executionThe NDA government made the announcement of the 25-km of roads per day earlier this year, and also stated that 30-km of roads would be built 2016 onwards. The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways and the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) have initiated a number of steps for speedy completion of national highway projects. These steps include streamlining of process of land acquisition and other statutory clearances, securitisation of road sector loans, introduction of revamped dispute resolution mechanism, etc. All these are indicators that the government is moving towards its target. ChallengesMr Tipirneni mentions some of the challenges need to be addressed in order to achieve desired target in stipulated time. These are as follows:• Difficulties in achieving financial closure,• Land acquisition especially at the state level • Issues related to environment • Forest clearance. Products offeredCaterpillar offers motor graders, excavators to carry out applications from small road construction and site development to larger expressway construction up to demanding mining haul road construction and maintenance works. Also Cat Connect Solutions, a technological offering is available to customers. These solutions are built for operations that range from small to large and simple to complex. It gives the user flexibility to select the capabilities needed to meet business goals.
“The government’s focus on building new roads and upkeep of the existing road network will stimulate demand for different kinds of equipment,” observes Mr Tipirneni.
State-of-the-art technologyCat machines are equipped with advanced technology that transforms project implementation practices. Cat Connect offers wide ranges of technologies and services for different applications, specifically for road building. Some of the benefits of adopting this technology are improved accuracy in grading, decrease in labour costs, minimise rework significantly, and improve operator performance. It also improves operator performance as grade control systems give inexperienced operators an in-cab guidance display system.—————————————————————-The government’s focus on building new roads and upkeep of the existing road network will stimulate demand for different kinds of equipment.
– Ramesh Tipirneni, Country Manager, Caterpillar India