Govt to track major projects

Monitoring system to ensure speedy implementation of projects with major investments

NEW DELHI: The government on Tuesday said it will set up an ‘investment tracking system’ to ensure speedy implementation of major projects, a move seen as response to growing criticism of policy inaction that is hurting the broader economy.
A format for monitoring such projects in the private sector and under public private partnerships (PPP) has been developed and has been made available on the financial services department’s Website.
The government has asked PPP and private developers involved in projects worth more than R1,000 crore each to provide details of their projects along with reasons for delays, a finance ministry statement said.
The information will be updated on a monthly basis.
The government is “separately working on developing a Web-based system for the monitoring of such projects which will enable the stakeholders in updating the status on a regular basis,” the statement said.
The move comes barely 20 days after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, in a specially convened meeting, set ambitious targets to fast-track infrastructure projects spanning expressways and bullet trains.

India will require an estimated $1 trillion ( R57 lakh crore at the current exchange rate) to upgrade its roads, highways, ports and airports over the next five years as the government seeks to reverse the slowdown.
India’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth crashed to a 9-year low of 5.3% during January-March 2012.
Time and cost overruns have been a major bane for India's infrastructure projects in recent times.
As of July 1, 2011, 758 PPP projects worth R3.8 lakh crore were under implementation.
The Prime Minister had asked all ministries to go the “extra mile” for implementing infrastructure projects and “very expeditiously resolve any inter-ministerial differences or turf battles that might arise.”
Industry captains have complained that delays in government approvals and stalled reforms have hurt investments.