SME Times News Bureau | 26 Jan, 2022
Minister
of Commerce & Industry Piyush Goyal reviewed the pace of
implementation of infrastructure projects being monitored through the
Project Monitoring Group (PMG) portal.
Minister emphasized the need to
address the issues being faced by implementing agencies on priority to
ensure timely completion of projects.
PMG
portal of Invest India is a unique institutional mechanism to
facilitate resolution of bottlenecks in infrastructure projects with
investments upward of ₹ 500
crores and do milestone-based project monitoring of the same.
Presently,
PMG is monitoring 1,351 under implementation projects with total
anticipated investment of approximately INR 48.94
lakh crore. Projects of infrastructure ministries such as Road,
Transport and Highways; Railways; Petroleum and Natural Gas; New and
Renewable Energy; Power; etc are listed on the portal.
The PMG mechanism
allows project proponents to raise issues with concerned government
agencies which are causing hindrances in implementation of projects.
Issues
raised on PMG portal pertain primarily to land acquisition (about 40%);
grant of right of use/ right of way (25%); and forest, environment and
wildlife clearances (14%). In 2021, PMG also incorporated milestone
based monitoring of projects.
This feature will allow for forecasting
delays in projects to avoid time and cost overruns and identify agencies
and authorities responsible for delays.
Once enlisted on PMG, the
projects and corresponding issues are taken up for resolution through
meetings with State Governments and Central Ministries.
The portal
provides for seamless flow of information as all stakeholders concerned
with a project have access to the portal and through regular updates and
meetings, issues are addressed in a timebound manner.
To
give impetus to the Prime Minister’s vision of Atmanirbhar Bharat, the
Commerce and Industry Minister has been closely monitoring activities on
PMG portal and conducted a review of select projects in June 2021.
Under the Minister’s guidance, since 01.04.2021, 687 projects with a
value of INR 17.9 lakh crore have been brought on PMG for monitoring and
timely completion, thereby bringing the total projects enlisted on PMG
since inception to 1,726 projects.
In Tuesday's review meeting, Goyal directed that regular
meeting be held with State Governments and Central Ministries to ensure
timely resolution of issues. Since 01.04.2021, 389 issues have been
resolved and 22 meetings have been conducted with Central Ministries and
State Governments by DPIIT.
It is noteworthy that through the PMG
mechanism there has been an increased level of coordination among
Central Ministries, State Governments and implementing agencies to
ensure timely completion of large-scale infrastructure projects.