The India Construction Festival, held in Delhi from 12-15 September, organised by ASAPP Media Information Group ( publishers of Equipment India) served to restore some of the lost faith and confidence in the infrastructure industry with its high profile speakers amid four days of conferences, awards and summit. Speaking to the head honchos of equipment business before the inaugural session, I shared my enthusiasm and met with caution and apathy. My enthusiasm grew from the government?s rare display of courage when it raised the diesel price by Rs 5 per litre. I then knew that we were seeing the crack of dawn. Besides the timing was just when the Euro zone had begun buying bonds and the QE3 had been announced by the Federal Reserve from the US. Only by the evening of 14 September did we learn that FDI in aviation and retail had been opened too. By now the government has clarified its intention and that has begun rebuilding faith which had begun to erode due to exposure to indecisiveness, red tape and corruption.

Execution is the key to restoring the economy to its eight per cent GDP pace. Check these facts: As per the data from the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) 793 industrial and infrastructural projects worth Rs 2.2 lakh crore were scheduled for completion in the quarter ending June 2012 but only 124 projects entailing an investment of Rs 18,523 crore got completed on time. The data also shows that projects worth almost Rs 8.9 lakh crore are scheduled to get completed during July 2012-March 2013. Even if half of these get completed on time, the total commissioning during 2012-13 will be the highest ever seen by the industry in a single year.

In order to keep our growth engines of GDP chugging at over eight per cent, we need our power sector to expedite project execution and the target of 88,000 MW set is an absolute must during the 12th Five Year Plan. The Dedicated Freight Corridor from Mumbai to Delhi and the Eastern Corridor from Ludhiana to Kolkatta, are very ambitious projects, and can give fillip to our sagging industry for decades once they get going.

The 4th Equipment India conference held during the India Construction Festival with its major focus on ?Green Initiatives? was a success, and it was heartening to note that IEEMA is in the right direction deliberating with different ministries to set up the much needed emission norms that can really help green the CE industry. It is true that we cannot help adding to the emission problems as we need to burn fuel, but of course, efficiency and productivity, in relative terms, can achieve more with less. The race between price and efficiency is likely to heat up soon.