Narendra Modi meets infrastructure secretaries to set target for current fiscal

NEW DELHI: Prime minister Narendra Modi on Saturday held a meeting with ministers in charge of key infrastructure sectors and top officials of ministries like environment and planning that have a role to play in speeding up infrastructure projects as part of the government’s efforts to set the agenda for reviving the beleaguered sector.

Planning Commission secretary Sindhushree Khullar is learnt to have made a 15-page presentation on the performance of infrastructure ministries in 2013-14 and deliberated on the targets proposed by them for 2014-15. While performance of all core sectors, including telecom and new and renewable energy were discussed, sources said railways was the focus area where targets have been lowered compared to last year on the grounds of a funding crunch.

“Funds are the biggest constraint with the railways especially for capacity enhancement projects,” Khullar has said in her presentation, adding that additional funding may be resorted to by the railways to augment its capacity. Khullar did not respond to an email query from ET Magazine.

Surface transport and shipping minister Nitin Gadkari, power and renewable energy minister Piyush Goyal, oil and gas minister Dharmendra Pradhan and telecom minister Ravi Shankar Prasad were among those present at the meeting along with secretaries to their ministries. Officials said the petroleum and natural gas ministry flagged details and problems facing nine new gas pipelines proposed by various public and private sector companies.

“One major problem in their implementation is dedicated customers. In the absence of customers, many pipelines are not commercially viable and a solution is viability gap funding along with some fiscal incentives. The government is looking at these issues on top priority,” a senior official said.