SME Times News Bureau | 02 Nov, 2021
In
continuance to the drive towards accelerated capital spending and
timely infrastructure development, Union Minister for Finance &
Corporate Affairs Nirmala Sitharaman chaired review meetings with
Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH), Ministry of Petroleum
and Natural Gas (PNG) and Ministry of Steel (Steel) in New Delhi on Tuesday.
The
review meetings were attended by Secretary (Economic Affairs),
Secretary (MoRTH), Secretary (MoPNG), Secretary (Steel), Joint
Secretaries (Economic Affairs) amongst other officials.
During
the meeting, Capital Expenditure (Capex) plans of Ministries and their
CPSEs for Q3 and Q4, Capex achievements of Q1 and Q2, expenditure
incurred on National Infrastructure Pipeline (NIP), projects undertaken
through PPP, estimation of funds to be raised by asset monetization and
Convergence under National Master Plan (Gati Shakti) were discussed.
ng
the good progress of Capex in the three ministries, the Finance
Minister suggested front-loading of Capex in third quarter of FY22 and
in the first half-year of FY23.
Sitharaman reiterated that
infrastructure projects are a priority for the Government and to achieve
the intended vision of the Capex stimulus given in the Union Budget, an
increase of 34.5% over last year, it is essential that physical and
financial projects targets are expended in the early quarters of the
financial year.
In
the review with MoRTH, Sitharaman suggested that may shift from
quarterly to monthly review of specific projects to ensure timely
completion of projects. In the discussion with PNG, the Finance
Minister observed that since refineries are key infrastructure assets
essential to economic growth, their progress forms important part of
infrastructure sector.
Secretary of M/o Steel apprised that the steel
production is already at 90% of its pre-pandemic levels and in the next
two quarters M/o Steel is expected to achieve its highest-ever
production.
Sitharaman observed that steel sector has great
potential and highlighted that the sector will benefit from recently
launched Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) for specialty steel under Aatma Nirbhar Bharat for specialty steel production.
The
Finance Minister observed that the ministries concerned have been
watchful for accelerated infrastructure spending and taking progressive
measures for the same.
During the review meeting, initiatives like PNG
exceeding its quarterly targets; MoRTH’s extensive revision of Model
Concession Agreements (MCAs) to make them more concessionaire-friendly
and steps towards resolution of Right of Way issues by the M/o Steel
were discussed and it was observed that these measures display proactive
steps in fighting the barriers imposed due to COVID-19 pandemic.
The
series of review meetings starting last week of October ‘21 is the
third session by the Finance Minister on CAPEX with various
infrastructure Ministries/ Departments and in continuation of previous
round of meetings held in June 2021.