Core sector roadmap by 2005

Government for time-bound decisions in infrastructure sector

The government will draw up a roadmap for the infrastructure sector by January 2005, according to Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia. Specific measures will be identified, along with the timeframe within which they have to be undertaken, he said.

The Committee on Infrastructure has decided that the new civil aviation policy should be placed before the Cabinet in January and the award of concession agreements for the Delhi and Mumbai airports should take place by the middle of next year, Ahluwalia said while addressing TieCon 2004, a conference on entrepreneurship.

A similar set of deadlines would be set for other infrastructure segments, he said, adding they would be easier to monitor. Action areas would be identified for the Centre and state governments along with the source of funding "" whether the money will flow in from the public sector or the private sector, or from the private sector with public sector support.

The government has to see that infrastructure is of the world or at least the east Asian level. Without that, the Industry would not be competitive, Ahluwalia said.

Usually, the administrative ministry makes a presentation. The Planning Commission also makes an independent presentations. On the civil aviation sector, the commission and the ministry had a common stand but it may not be so in the future, Ahluwalia said.

The tourism ministry, as a user ministry, made an independent presentation to the committee to highlight the issues and the decisions that needed to be taken, he said. The next presentation would be on the roads sector, he added.

Addressing the conference, Sam Pitroda, Worldtel chief executive officer and member of the National Advisory Council, said the country faced many challenges like illiteracy, better water and sanitation, and health for all.

"Our failure has been in execution," he said. He added that the focus was on national planning whereas it should be on district-level planning in order to achieve results. He said there was a need for bodies pushing for policy implementation at the district level.