India on the verge of infrastructure revolution: Patel

New Delhi, Apr 11: Civil aviation minister Praful Patel has said that India is on the verge of a fourth revolution, this time concerning the infrastructure.

Each of the earlier three -- the green revolution, the telecom and the knowledge revolution -- transformed the country's economic landscape significantly.

''The infrastructure revolution too will transform the physical asset base,'' he said while addressing the CII India Cargo Summit's closing session last night. In aviation, the process has already started.

New Delhi, Mumbai and other major cities will soon have world-class aviation infrastructure, said Mr Patel. Nagpur will emerge as the country's national cargo hub.

The new civil aviation policy to be announced soon will provide substantial concessions for air-freighter operations out of Nagpur.

Global and domestic freighters using Nagpur will enjoy cost benefits due to user-charge benefits that will be offered.

Nagpur, he said, offers an all-weather 365 day operation.

Indian's freighters will also be based out of Nagpur, said Mr Patel.

There was a need for creating a national grid for cargo hubs at various airports in India with cold storage and warehousing availability, he added.

Meanwhile, Mr Montek Singh Ahluwalia announced the Planning Commission's own initiative to de-bottleneck logistics in India. He said the commission has formed a working group to come up with recommendations on policy change ahead of the 11th Plan formulation.

The deputy chairman said individual ministries will perhaps be more amenable to change, if the change is presented as a part of a multi-sector relook at processes, policies and procedures cutting across different sectors.

UNI