A meeting was held by the Prime Minister today to finalise the targets for infrastructure for the year 2012-13. The meeting was attended by the Ministers and Secretaries of key infrastructure Ministries- Power, Railways, Roads, Shipping, Civil Aviation and Coal.

Mr. Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission made a presentation in which he pointed out the detailed process through which these targets were finalised and the high level of ambition they represent. Deputy Chairman then made a presentation highlighting the key targets for each sector.

The Planning Commission proposed a set of targets for these five sectors in consultation with the concerned Ministries. This was followed by a second round of meetings in PMO with the Principal Secretary in which there were significant enhancements in targets in some areas - most notably in Ports, Civil Aviation and Railways. Further, keeping in view the direct relation with the Power sector, PMO included the Coal sector as well in the target setting exercise.

The process was important as generated a sense of collective ownership of the targets among all. This is a demonstration of the collective intent and seriousness to achieve significant progress in infrastructure particularly in challenging economic times. This is a clear indication to the external world of the push being given to the achievement of targets in important infrastructure sectors so that it inspires confidence about the overall economic growth rate.

The Prime Minister reviewed the targets for the coming year (2012-13) and approved them. In his remarks, he expressed happiness at the level of commitment being shown by his ministerial colleagues and their officers in giving a major push to these important sectors.

He explained the reason behind giving this push to the infrastructure sectors. India is at a critical juncture in its quest for prosperity and eradicating poverty. After achieving remarkably fast growth rates over the past eight years and emerging as the second-fastest growing large economy in the world, we are now running into more turbulent weather. The global economy is passing through difficult times. This has affected us. It is therefore imperative to take measures to give a boost to our economy. There is a need to revive business and investor sentiment. There is a need to give a thrust to investment, both public and private. There is a need to create an atmosphere which is conducive to investment and to removing any bottlenecks to growth. The government is not only aware of the challenges but is committed to taking the necessary measures to reverse the situation and revive India's growth story. These will turnaround India and take it back to a growth path of 9%.

In this context, infrastructure investment plays a major role. In the short term, it boost investment rates across the economy. In the long run, it will remove the supply constraints that affect industry and trade. The needs of the sector are vast. Infrastructure needs over $ 1 trillion in the next five years. The government alone cannot invest this amount. Therefore, importance being given to PPPs. Achieving targets in key infrastructure sectors is key to success and will inspire confidence about the overall economic growth rate.

The Prime Minister felt that the targets set are certainly ambitious and impressive. They are a significant scale up over earlier performance. He was encouraged by the Ministers' commitment to meeting these targets.

Highlights of the Targets: 

A. Ports:

1. The target for FY 12-13 will consist of a total of 42 projects. These will be for a value of Rs 14,500 crores and a capacity of 244 MTPA. This is three times what was achieved last year.

2. Two projects for brand new Major Ports will be taken up during the year.

a) These will be in East Coast (Andhra Pradesh) and West Bengal. 

b) The total investment will be Rs 20,500 crores for a capacity of 116 MTPA. 

3. The total capacity

which will be awarded this year will be 360 MTPA with an investment of Rs 35,000 crores. 

B. Roads:

1. Total Road length to be awarded in FY 12-13 will be 9,500 kms, an increase of 18.7% over last year. The investment will rise by 73.6%.

2. 4,360 kms of roads will be awarded for maintenance under the OMT (Operate, Maintain, Transfer) system for the first time. 

C. Civil Aviation: 

1. Work on Itanagar airport would be commenced by AAI. The total investment on AAI projects will be Rs 2100 crores. 

2. Three new Greenfield Projects will be awarded in FY 13. These will be at Navi Mumbai, Goa and Kannur. 

3. New international airports will be declared in 3 or 4 of the following locations this year - Lucknow, Varanasi, Coimbatore, Trichy and Gaya. 

4. An airline hub policy would be finalised and Hubs would be operationalised at Delhi and Chennai in FY13. 

5. By end-July 2012, additional PPP projects would be finalised for 10-12 existing airports and for 10-12 greenfield airports. These would be awarded during the year.  

6. PPP in airport operations would be explored.

D. Railways: 

These targets are only for PPP projects. The regular operational and investment targets are known.  

1. Dedicated Freight Corridor- PPP for the Sonnagar - Dankuni stretch will be awarded in FY 12-13.  

2. Elevated Rail Corridor, Mumbai with a total investment of Rs 20,000 crores will be awarded in awarded in FY 12-13. 

3. The concessions for two locomotive manufacturing units at Madhepura and Marhowra will be awarded. 

4. Station redevelopment of 4/ 5 station will be done in PPP mode.  

5. Proposal and approach for a High Speed Corridor (Bullet Train) from Mumbai to Ahmedabad will be finalised. 

E. Power: 

1. The capacity addition target for this year will be 18,000 MW (17,957 MW to be precise) including 2,000 MW to be added by the Kudankulam Atomic Power Project.  

2. The power generation target is 930 billion Units, an increase of 6.2%.  

3. Ministry of Power is increasingly laying transmission lines with higher voltage (765 KV in place of 400 KV) and consequently of higher transmission capacity per kilometre.

F. Coal:

1. CIL will disptach 470 MT of coal to all sectors, an increase of 8.8%. Of this, it will dispatch 347 MT coal to the power sector in FY 12-13 against 312 MT dispatched last year (a 11.2% increase).