Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu on Saturday welcomed the Government’s bold decision to cut corporate tax and said it will stimulate economic growth.

Inaugurating the 11th Project Management Conference in Hyderabad today, he called upon the private sector to play a bigger role in the nation-building activities such as infrastructure development and improving health care and strengthening the education sectors.

He said public-private partnerships (PPP) would be the order of the day for big projects including Smart Cities.

Observing that Project Managers were extremely important for a nation's progress, Naidu said these were times of immense changes and the knowledge and skills of project managers would have a positive impact on the industry and the country's economy.

Describing India as a land of engineering and architectural wonders, the Vice President said that modern-day India too has several remarkable achievements such as the newly-inaugurated Statue of Unity on the banks of Narmada and implementation of Aadhaar, the world's largest biometric database.

A need for champions

Recalling his own experience in launching big projects earlier as the Minister for Rural Development in the Atal Behari Vajpayee's cabinet and as Minister for Housing and Urban Development in the Narendra Modi's cabinet, Naidu cited the examples of the Pradhan Mantri Grammen Sadak Yojana, Swachh Bharat, Smart Cities, Housing and the Prime Minister's Awas Yojana and their huge impact on the people.

Talking about the successful implementation of Schemes such as Swachh Bharat, Jan Dhan, Pradhan Mantri Ujwala Yojana and others, Naidu said initiatives such as these need champions who would inspire the team to work towards achieving bigger goals.

In the case of the Jan Dhan Yojana, Prime Minister Narendra Modi championed this greatest financial inclusion programme in the world, he observed.

Expressing his concern over delays in execution of projects on time, the Vice President said that this trend needed to change and called upon Project Managers to act as change agents to improve the execution of projects and programmes.

The Vice President also stressed the need for the conservation of water and ending single-use plastic.

According to the World Urbanisation Prospects, the urban population in the year 2025 will rise to 42.5 per cent (566 million). Smart Cities will provide the answer to many of the problems that our growing cities face today, like public transport, water management, solid waste management and crime prevention.

To me the big challenge here is not funding or infrastructure or technology but leadership, he said.

The Vice President also released a Book on Project Management in Braille facilitated by Neha Agarwal who is a visually impaired.

comment COMMENT NOW