Prime Minister Manmohan Singh wants to put infrastructure projects on the fast track. He chaired a meeting on Wednesday at his residence that was attended by Montek Singh Ahluwalia and ministers who handle infrastructure related portfolios like power, coal, aviation, shipping and road transport. The move was necessitated after a slowdown in the core sector, which grew at 2.2% in April.
Here are the 10 latest developments on what the Prime Minister announced:
1. The Prime Minister said three new greenfield airports would be built at Navi Mumbai, Goa and Kinnur. New international airports will be built at Lucknow, Varanasi, Coimbatore, Trichy and Gaya. Also, two new hubs will be developed in the country making us a destination as well as a transit point
2. In road, 9,500 kms of roads will be awarded for construction this year and over 4,000 kms for maintenance under the new system.
3. The Railways sector will see work awarded to the Elevated Rail Corridor in Mumbai, two new Loco manufacturing units and the PPP stretch of the Dedicated Freight corridor, in addition to redeveloping 4 or 5 stations through public-private partnerships.
4. The power sector will see addtion of a record 18,000 MW of capacity.
5. In shipping, Singh said two new ports would be built while capacity would be added to the exsting ones to triple total capacity.
6. The meeting will also set new targets after assessing previous ones. A detailed presentation is expected to be made on the infrastructure needs of the country. Singh would meet the ministers of power, coal, civil aviation, railways and shipping in the evening at his
residence, sources said.
7. Various power and road projects are stuck due to environment or financial hurdles. Today's meeting may address these issues, sources said. Many highway projects in the country are stalled as these companies are unable to tie up funds for these projects. It is expected that over 8,000 km of road projects could be fast-tracked.
8. Infra stocks traded with strong gains ahead of the key meeting. IVRCL shares rose 8 per cent, IRB Infra rose 5 per cent, and GMR Infra advanced 4.65 per cent. These companies rely on government road and aviation projects to generate business.
9. International investors highlighted a policy paralysis as a key issue and often raised concerns about India’s infrastructure. The outcome of the meeting would be closely watched.
10. Investors are concerned about the government’s ability to provide an investment stimulus in the context of a high fiscal deficit. The government already spends more money that it earns. In 2008, the Indian government spent money on job creating infrastructure projects. However, it has to rely on the private sector this time to boost investment. India's infrastructure sector output grew 2.2 percent in April from a year earlier. For the 2011/12 fiscal year that ended in March, the output rose 4.4 percent, compared with an annual rise of 6.6 percent in the previous year, data showed. The infrastructure sector accounts for 37.9 percent of India's industrial output.
(with agency inputs)
RECOMMENDED FOR YOU
POPULAR