DPIIT reviews 40 critical infrastructure projects; emphasises on timely completion

The commerce and industry ministry on Friday reviewed 40 infrastructure projects, including BharatNet and Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut Regional Rapid Transit System, and emphasised on their timely completion.

Special Secretary, Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) Amrit Lal Meena also asked for seamless coordination between the various departments to ensure that projects having high socio-economic importance are not delayed, an official statement said.

Considering the emphasis of the government on GatiShakti and continuing the focus on infrastructure development and resolving bottlenecks being faced in projects, the Project Monitoring Group (PMG) was instituted.

Since its merger with DPIIT in 2019, PMG Invest India has taken new initiatives such as developing a modern technology portal for better project monitoring and faster issue resolution.

It offers an institutional mechanism to facilitate resolution of regulatory bottlenecks in infrastructure projects with investments upward of Rs 500 crore and does milestone-based project monitoring of the same.

The meeting was attended by senior officials from ministries including environment and railways.

"Special Secretary, DPIIT reviewed 57 issues in 40 projects with an anticipated investment of approximately Rs 3.37 lakh crores and emphasized upon the importance of timely completion of projects and the role of seamless coordination between the various departments of the Central Government to ensure that projects having high socio-economic importance are not delayed," the ministry said.

The other projects which were reviewed include the Hubli-Ankola New Line Project (164.44 km) -- a supercritical Railway project which was stuck due to litigation issues regarding wildlife clearance given by the National Board of Wildlife; and four-laning of Bengaluru - Chennai Expressway, a 260.85-km access-controlled road connecting Hoskote near Bengaluru, Karnataka with Sriperumbudur near Chennai, Tamil Nadu.