Rajnath stresses on Disaster Resilient Infra for economic growth

Speed Post News Network

New Delhi : Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh inaugurated the International Workshop on Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (IWDRI) here on January 15, 2018. The two-day workshop has been organised by the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) in collaboration with United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR).

Underlining the importance of Disaster Resilient Infrastructure, Rajnath said that it creates opportunities for economic growth and is at the core of sustainable development. “The way we build our infrastructure today will either build risk or resilience for the future generations. We need to to ensure that all our new infrastructure are built to withstand the hazards of the present as well as the future.”

The Union Home Minister said, “As the infrastructure systems are globally interconnected, disruptions in one part of the world can cause havoc in another part of the world. It is, therefore, important that all stakeholders come together to address the challenges and devise solutions to create resilient infrastructure.”

Reiterating India’s commitment towards building resilience and strengthening global cooperation, Rajnath Singh talked about the Prime Minister’s 10-point agenda outlined during the Asian Ministerial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction (AMCDRR) held in New Delhi in November 2016, according to a PIB releas. “At that conference, our Prime Minister outlined a ten-point agenda to give a sense of urgency to the implementation of Sendai Framework for DRR. His first point emphasized the need for investing in infrastructure in a manner that it can withstand hazards not only now but also in the future,” he said.

Rajnath also recalled the example of constructing sound structures in India’s ancient civilizations. “Infrastructure has shaped human civilization for millennia. Our forefathers showed tremendous foresight when they developed infrastructure that served us for generations,” he said.

The Union Home Minister said robust infrastructure will be at the core of sustainable development in the coming decades and this has also been recognized in the way the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals have been framed. “The infrastructure that we will build in the next twenty years will be more than what we built over the last two thousand years. At the global level, by 2040, to adequately meet the infrastructure needs of humanity, we will need nearly $100 trillion. By 2030, Asia alone will need $26 trillion in infrastructure investment,” he said.

Rajnath said climate change is also posing new challenges in erecting Disaster Resilient Infrastructure.“The challenge of building Disaster Resilient Infrastructure is such that no country can address it alone,” he added.