New Delhi, 16th Oct 2024: “The Government must take efforts to promote more and more Indian Companies in the infrastructure consultancy space to fully realize the vision of Atmanirbhar Bharat, more so when we are already promoting the manufacturing of train coaches in India.,” said Shri Rajeev Kumar Jain, Former - Director General, PIB, Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs (MoHUA).

He further said that “The Indian Railways and metro projects have embraced the "Make in India" philosophy by promoting local manufacturing of rolling stock, signaling systems, and other critical components. This can be done so even for the infrastructure consultancy sector.”

He was addressing at the 4th Edition of Urban Infra Business Summit & Awards 2024, hosted by the Urban Infra Group. Mr. Anil Kumar Khandelwal, Former Member (Infrastructure), Railway Board, Ministry of Railways, Prof. Manoj Choudhary, Vice Chancellor, Gati Shakti Vishwavidyalaya, Ministry of Railways, Mr. I. Jeyakumar, IRTS, Member Secretary/Special Officer, CUMTA, Mr. Ajay Kumar Lal, Principal FA & CAO (Retd), Ministry of Railways and Mr. Rajesh Agrawal, Former Member (RS), Railway Board, were also present at the inaugural function.

Complimenting the Government for promoting Atmanirbhar Bharat, Shri Jain said that “The High-Speed Railway is a classic example of awarding the consultancy contract to all the Indian companies. The project being highly technical and complex in nature, and being built for the first time in India, the Govt. has relied on all the Indian companies (Tata Consulting Engineers, Consulting Engineers Group for the job of project management consultancy. This makes a compelling case for the Govt. to do so in the other infrastructure consultancy works, particularly in metro sector.”

He further said that “In the Operations and Maintenance sector of metro development, which is still in its nascent stage in India as most of the metros are still in the construction phase, the Govt. must put its faith in the Indian companies to deliver.”