NEW DELHI:Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Monday said disaster resilient infrastructure 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 bring to bear tremendous foresight and rigour to ensure that all our new infrastructure is built to withstand the hazards of the present as well as the future,” Mr Singh said after inaugurating the International Workshop on Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (IWDRI) here.
He 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.
The Union Home Minister said robust infrastructure will be at the core of sustainable development in the coming decades and this is also recognized in the way the Sustainable Development Goals have been framed.
“The infrastructure that we will build in the next 20 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 dollars. By 2030, Asia alone will need 26 trillion dollars in infrastructure investment.”
Mr Singh added climate change was also posing new challenges to erecting Disaster Resilient Infrastructure. The challenge of building Disaster Resilient Infrastructure is such that no country can address it alone.
Union Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba was also present during the inaugural session. Experts from about 23 countries, multilateral development banks, the United Nations, the private sector, academia and other stakeholders are participating in the workshop.
The two-day workshop is being organised by the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) in collaboration with United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR).
(AGENCIES)
Follow our WhatsApp channel
