Concerned over several big tickets infrastructure projects worth over Rs 40,000 crore stuck at various stages owing to structural bottlenecks and which in turn has severely impacted job creation in the manufacturing sector, the Commerce Ministry has sought a detailed report on such projects from all the major industry bodies.
According to official sources, the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) is planning to address the issues plaguing the projects, however in case the bottlenecks require handling at a higher level, then those projects would be referred to the newly created Cabinet Committee on Investment (CCI).
Industry bodies like CII, FICCI and Assocham have been sent missives by DIPP which comes under the Commerce Ministry, to prepare a detailed list of such stalled projects, along with reasons which have led to the delays in their implementation.
When contacted, FICCI officials acknowledged the receipt of DIPP's order and in fact added that they have sent the required inputs to the ministry. CII officials however could not be contacted for their comments, though sources confirmed that all the chambers have been sent the necessary directives since major corporate entities engaged in implementation of various infrastructure projects are members of these bodies.
The concern within the official circles regarding the sluggish pace of various infrastructural projects in sectors like steel, power, transportation, logistics, coal and various other segments had reached the Prime Minister's Office (PMO), which had subsequently led to the creation of the CCI last year. The committee, led by the PM, is meant for expediting such delayed projects.
Considering the fact that the Prime Minister himself has showed keen interest in expediting these projects, the DIPP's move seems to be an extension of that urgency.
In the steel and coal sectors alone, several projects are stuck owing to various hurdles, like delay in getting environmental clearances, lengthy process of land acquisition, and lack of raw material availability among others.
While the Steel Ministry has a long list of around 20-odd projects which are stuck mainly due to lack of raw material, the Coal Ministry has been suffering as several blocks of Coal India ltd (CIl) have been awaiting green clearance from the Environment Ministry.
The CCI, sources said, is most likely to step in to put these projects on the fast track, as DIPP, they added, can only suggest them to the Prime Minister-led body.
In fact the severity of the situation can be gauged from the fact that during a recent meeting of public sector banks with Finance Minister P Chidambaram, these delayed projects were high on the agenda item, considering the fact that loans worth more than Rs 50,000 crore have been disbursed by these banks for such projects.
The banks had expressed apprehension that any further delays in such projects would only lead to cost overruns but would also increase the risk on them.
As per the information provided by these banks in the meeting with Chidambaram, there are around 200-odd projects which are stuck due to various bottlenecks and among the sectors facing the highest number of blockages, are the power, road, steel and coal segments.