Focusing on the need for strengthening infrastructure in the country, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today said steps are being taken to push a slew of new projects to push investment for growth in the economy.
"We will start work on a number of new infrastructure projects in the coming months. This includes two new ports, 8 new airport, new industrial corridors and rail projects," Singh said
The Prime Minister has set specific targets for development of key infrastructure projects, including railways airports, ports, roads and power generation in the current financial year.
In a recent review meeting, the Prime Minister had reviewed the status of major infrastructure projects and tasked various ministries including railways, civil aviation, road and highways to roll out public-private partnerships (PPPs) in the next six months of identified projects worth Rs 115,000 crore.
The railway projects as per the target, include the Mumbai Elevated Railway Corridor, two new locomotive projects at Madhepura and Marhora and station development on public private participation (PPP) model.
The railway ministry has also been asked to expedite the work on the completion of the Khurja-Kanpur, Kanpur-Mughalsarai and Mughalsarai-Sonnagar stretches of the Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor.
An inter-ministerial group of railways, finance and planning is being formed with the task of coming up with a creative financing-cum-implementation mechanism in two months for clearing the large backlog of sanctioned projects of over Rs 200,000 crore in a prioritised and time-bound manner.
