PM wants 8 infra projects expedited

Time/Cost Overrun

- Delays in acquiring land

- Getting forest and environmental clearances

- Inadequate infra support and linkages

- Delays in the finalization of detailed engineering

- Tying up of project financing, in tendering, ordering and equipment supply, and in technical approvals, etc

The projects are spread over 14 states: AP, Maharashtra, Karnataka, TN, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Tripura, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim, and Jharkhand

New Delhi: There are hundreds of infrastructure projects, which have suffered cost and time overruns, but Prime Minister Narendra Modi has focused on eight of them. He has instructed all the stakeholders concerned to ensure that these suffer no delays and cost escalations.

He recently addressed the Chief Secretaries of States and UTs and Secretaries of the Ministries and Departments concerned through video conference, official sources told Bizz Buzz.

The eight projects he mentioned were: The Mumbai Urban Transport Project Phase-III; Ginigera-Raichur New BG line; four-laning of the Melur-Karaikudi section of NH; the Raipur-Vishakhapatnam Economic Corridor; the North East Gas Grid Project; the Kakinada-Srikakulam Natural Gas Pipeline Project; the Sulwade-Jamphal-Kanoli Lift Irrigation Scheme; and the Patratu Super Thermal Power Project.

The projects are spread over 14 states: Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Tripura, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim, and Jharkhand.

The Prime Minister also directed the officials to lay special emphasis on the National Broadband Mission (NBM).

He said that the agencies working involved should map their projects with the water bodies being developed under Amrit Sarovar. It may be mentioned here that on April 24 this year, he had launched a new initiative named Mission Amrit Sarovar. This is aimed at conserving water for the future. It involves developing and rejuvenating 75 water bodies in each district of the country.

The Prime Minister told the officials that coordinating the infrastructure projects with Amrit Sarovar would result in a win-win situation: The material dug out for Amrit Sarovars could be utilized for civil works by the agencies.

Modi also reviewed the NBM, and asked States and agencies to leverage the centralized Gati Shakti Sanchar Portal to ensure timely disposal of right of way applications. This would enhance 'ease of living' of the common man.

Further, he said, States may also formulate state-level Gati Shakti Master Plans, modeled on the PM GatiShakti National Master Plan.

There are several reasons for time overruns, like delays in acquiring land and getting forest and environmental clearances and inadequate infrastructure support and linkages. Then there are delays in the finalization of detailed engineering, tying up of project financing, in tendering, ordering and equipment supply, and in technical approvals, etc.