One of the favourite lines of, is “American roads are not good because America is rich, but America is rich because America has good roads”. That explains why he is fixated on building new roads at record pace — think 24 km roads per day — besides cutting down on red-tapism. In this exclusive interview with ET Magazine’s Prerna Katiyar, the arguably best performing minister in the Modi Cabinet speaks about his targets for five years for infrastructure creation. Edited excerpts:I believe that what has not been done in 50 years, we have to achieve in five years. We have put out an investment plan to the tune of Rs 25 lakh crore over five years in the road sector, ports, inland waterways and shipping.The budget will be of Rs 4.12 lakh crore. The profit from ports is Rs 6,000 crore this year. Next year it should be Rs 8,000 crore. In five years the profit will be to the tune of Rs 50,000 crore. The FDs ( fixed deposits ) are lying in banks. We are banking on these deposits, investments and loans. If we take a loan of 15 years on 2-2.5% then easily we will get Rs 50,000 crore.Now I don’t. Earlier I was reluctant to come to Delhi but now that I have come I want to focus here. The canvas of the country is so big that I want to work on this big platform. This is a big opportunity. There is so much to be done. Now I want to work for the whole country; I do not want to go back to Maharashtra.Sagarmala Project that aims to develop port infrastructure along the country’s 7,500 km coastline and develop 111 waterways will involve investments worth Rs 12 lakh crore. We are going for mechanisation of all 12 port of the country. The logistics cost in India is 18% and China ’s is 8%. Sending material from Mumbai to London is comparatively cheaper than sending it from Mumbai to Delhi. If we reduce the cost to 10%, our exports will double. Going by road costs Rs 1.50 per km, railways cost Rs 1 while using waterways cost just 20 paisa. Just imagine the boost it can give to the economy I had kept a target of 30 km for this year (ending May 26, 2016); when final estimations will be done we will be at 24-25 km per day; but I believe the aim should always be high. For the coming year — from May 26, 2016-May 25, 2017 — I have kept a target of 41 km per day. Also, next year we will work on projects worth Rs 5 lakh crore. What is remarkable is that despite such big investments, there is no charge of corruption. There is 100% egovernance; there is no work without etender; no contractors comes to us directly. People who do not know me think that this politician is talking out of thin air but whatever I say I say on a scientific basis. Whatever I have said I have achieved.Decision-making process in our system needs to be much faster. There are so many procedures involved and clearing a file takes three to four months. I have requested the PMO (Prime Minister’s Office) to come up with some solution. The decision can be anything but the decision-making process has to be faster.What do big contractors do? They hire small players. So why not give the opportunity to small contractors directly. We are going for dilution. Usually politicians are interested in doing less work and giving work to big contractors. I want to distribute work. There is a dearth of contractors in the country. We have to keep in mind the socioeconomic conditions of the country — although this is not my mandate still I also keeps these parameters in mind. I am planning skill development courses for workers in the road and shipping sector. I want to open 10 medical colleges at major ports, skill development centres, 12 smart cities (at ports), eight new ports; also each major port will have an industrial cluster. All this will give a big push to the development of the country.My biggest priority is to bring down the number of accidents by at least 50%. Another problem is that 30% of driving licences in India are fake. Despite my best efforts, we have not been able to make progress on the (passage of ) Road Transport and Safety Bill. By next month we should get some success — a report should come in a month and then we will take it for Cabinet approval. We have sent a proposal for Cabinet approval that talks about allocating 1% of the cost of construction for car safety. An additional 1% will be spent on beautification along roads and greening highways. We are going to bring out a car scrapping policy. Within a week we will put the proposal on the website for public opinion and then it will go for Cabinet and finance ministry approval. Our turnover in automobile parts manufacturing is Rs 4.5 lakh crore; I am aiming to make it Rs 20 lakh crore in five years. The cost of metal will come down due to recycling; labour cost is anyway low in India. When cost will be less, exports will rise and we will be globally competitive. This way India can be the biggest manufacturer and exporter of automobile parts.I agree that the share of waterways is minuscule in our country; it is 6% now and has risen 2.5% in the last two years. The Congress government never looked to increase the share of coastal traffic and waterways. I have started work on five such projects and DPR (detailed project report) of 18 is ready. Work on the stretch between Pala (in Haryana) and Wazirabad (in Delhi) will be started in three months. Having said that I know that it a difficult task; it is a new subject but I am trying my best. We can’t be sure but we will try to shift 15% of road transport of fertilizer, cement etc to waterways in five years. I believe it will be done.In Assam we have started projects worth Rs 40,000 crore. We have been working on road projects worth Rs 1 lakh crore in the northeast. We have lowered the norms for contractors in hill areas and the northeast so that people from the area come forward and participate. We have to create jobs in northeast and not just build roads there, keeping the socioeconomic condition of the area.