In order to give a push to infrastructure development in the country and solve the bottlenecks in the way, the Cabinet Committee on Infrastructure (CCI) has set strict monitoring targets for all core projects. The 12-member CCI is headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Indian infrastructure projects are known for long delays and cost overruns. According to the government’s own estimates, more than 50% of the infrastructure projects currently being undertaken in the country are suffering from substantial delays. Data available with the ministry of statistics and programme implementation shows that 423 of the 925 projects going on at various parts of the nation have crossed their deadlines.
To counter these problems, the CCI has asked all concerned ministries to provide quarterly and half-yearly progress reports of the projects under implementation. The Planning Commission will also be providing status report on major infrastructure projects along with overall infrastructure development to the CCI twice every year. The first such report will be presented by August 10 detailing the progress made in previous fiscal and the first quarter of 2009-10.
The government has said earlier that it will invest in infra development as a strategy to ensure strong growth for the Indian economy despite economic slowdown. In the Budget for 2009-10, the finance ministry had said that it will raise investment rate in infrastructure to 9% by 2014. If such an ambitious target is to be achieved by the government, it has to monitor closely the infra projects and ensure that the cost over-runs resulting from delays are avoided.