Monitor infra development every quarter: PM tells Plan panel

NEW DELHI: With a view to expedite major infrastructure projects, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has asked the Plan panel to set up a mechanism to monitor the targets of all important projects on a quarterly basis.

These targets, the officials said, would be monitored on quarterly basis by the Cabinet Committee on Infrastructure (CCI) which is headed by the Prime Minister.

The Planning Commission, which will prepare the quarterly reports which are to be presented to the CCI, is slated to unveil the physical targets for each ministry that deals with the infrastructure sector on Monday.

It's also been decided that the status of infrastructure development would open to public scrutiny as the ministries dealing with roads, power, railways, sea ports and airports would post their targets and achievements on their Websites.

The sources said all infrastructure projects would not come under the proposed monitoring mechanism, though. For instance, only those airport projects having a project cost of Rs 150 crore or above would be monitored by the Planning Commission, the source added.

Meanwhile, the Plan panel has proposed to set up a mega fund with a seed money of Rs 50,000 crore to facilitate investment of over Rs 45 lakh crore in the infrastructure sector during the 12th Plan (2012-17) period.

The Plan panel has also constituted a committee that would be headed by HDFC chairman Deepak Parekh, to look into funding of major infrastructure projects. The committee would submit its report to the Plan panel in two weeks.

For the proposed dedicated infrastructure fund, the government would seek assistance from multilateral lenders like the World Bank and Asian Development Bank, domestic financial institutions, including insurance companies and pension funds.