Government to set-up system to track major infrastructure projects

NEW DELHI: The government today said it will put in place an ' Investment Tracking System' to ensure speedy implementation of major infrastructure projects.

"Projects in the private sector are to be monitored and followed up by the Department of Financial Services, Ministry of Finance," an official statement said.

A format has been developed for monitoring such projects in the private sector and under Public Private Partnership (PPP) and is available at the department's website, it said.

Promoters of the projects, where the proposed investment is Rs 1,000 crore and above, are requested to provide details of their projects along with reasons behind delay, it said.

This information may also be updated on a monthly basis, the statement said, adding that the department 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.

Large projects in the country are being delayed due to various reasons including land issues, fuel supply shortage and environmental clearances.

Meanwhile, as many as nine state-owned financial institutions, including SBI, Punjab National Bank, Bank of Baroda and LIC, have joined hands for consortium lending to infrastructure projects worth over Rs 1,000 crore each.

Other financial institution which are part of the consortium include Bank of India, Canara Bank, Union Bank, IDBI Bank and IIFCL.

The consortium aims to speed up the sanction process, bring uniformity in the approach and terms of lending, thereby facilitate early financial closure of the infrastructure project, the statement said.

Banks have been cautious on lending to infrastructure projects due to various reasons, including land issues.

The country's poor infrastructure, which is seen as a major bottleneck for economic growth, requires an estimated investment of a whopping $ 1 trillion in the 12th Plan (2012-17). Of this, 50 per cent is expected to come from the private sector.

Earlier this month, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had set an investment target of at least Rs 2 lakh crore for core sector projects in the current fiscal in a bid to revert to 9 per cent economic growth.