CCI big boost to economy expected on Thursday

The newly constituted CCI is expected to give big boost to economy on Thursday by setting the ball rolling for coal, power and oil projects worth Rs. 1 lakh crore. Chetan Chauhan reports.

Updated on: Jan 29, 2013, 01:27:09 IST

Hindustan Times | By Chetan Chauhan, New Delhi

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The newly constituted Cabinet Committee on Investments (CCI) is expected to give big boost to economy on Thursday by setting the ball rolling for coal, power and oil projects worth Rs. 1 lakh crore and help banks in funding infrastructure projects.

The committee constituted to act as one stop clearance mechanism for projects worth Rs 1,000 crore or more is expected to clear the hurdles for attracting investments for big ticket projects before the budget session starting on February 21.

In its first meeting, government sources said that about 25 projects of coal, power, oil and gas are expected to dominate the meeting to be chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Sources said that the slew of projects for consideration include two oil and gas projects of Mukesh Ambani owned Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) and one each of public sector Oil and Natural Gas Corporation and GVK group.

In addition, the cabinet committee would also discuss power projects of Adani and India Bulls facing coal linkage problems because of delay in environment clearance to the fossil fuel mining in different states.

Officials sources said that the Planning Commission deputy chairperson Montek Singh Ahluwalia has already submitted a report on problem of coal linkages for many power plants on the basis of letters written by Chief Ministers of various states.

Prime Minister Singh had assured the CM at National Development Council meeting in December that the Central government would look into their issues raised by them over coal linkages. The panel is reported to have recommended time-bound environment and forest clearances for these projects to improve country’s energy generation and prevent adverse impact of the delay on banks, which have financed the power projects.

The public sector State Bank of India is said to have invested in 12 projects worth Rs. 70,000 crore, IDBI in projects worth Rs. 13,000 crore and ICICI Bank in three projects worth Rs. 14,000 crore. The banks had threatened to withdraw from the projects if their future is not secured.

The government sources said the CCI is expected to discuss exposure of public and private sector banks to investment, especially in power projects with pending coal linkages.

Agenda for CCI

Reliance Industries Limited, ONGC and GVK group’s pending oil and gas projects
Adani and IndiaBulls power plants facing coal linkages
25 power projects with pending coal linkages
Defence agencies opposition to oil and gas exploration projects
Banks facing problem with delay in execution of power projects

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Chetan Chauhan
Chetan Chauhan is the National Affairs Editor looking into all aspects of news and features from across India. A Chevening scholar with over three decades of experience in reporting and news management, Chetan has extensively covered all important aspects of the social sector, political economy, environment and climate change nationally and internationally. He did a journalism course at the Reuters Institute of Journalism in Oxford and Digital Media training at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He started as a reporter with The Statesman in 1996 and joined the Hindustan Times in 2000 in the metro bureau covering environment, crime and Delhi politics. He covered hot local news, from the Jessica Lal murder case to the rebellion of Delhi Congress MLAs against then Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, to the replacement of toxic vehicle fuel with cleaner compressed natural gas (CNG) in the national capital. Some of his stories on air pollution became part of the Supreme Court’s landmark MC Mehta versus Government of India case in the National Capital Region (NCR), forcing the government to take corrective measures. As part of the national political bureau since 2004, he covered important central sectors such as environment, education, social justice, labour, rural development, water resources, renewable energy, agriculture, broadcasting and the Planning Commission for more than a decade producing several exclusive and investigative breaking stories. His specialisation is the environment, having covered at least a dozen United Nations global conferences on climate change, biodiversity and wildlife including climate summits in Paris, Copenhagen and Bali. He also covered India’s two five-year plans ---11th and 12th and reported on drafting and execution of right based laws such as Right to Education, Right to Information and rural job guarantee law, MG-NREGA, now being introduced in new format as VG-RAM-G Act. He has in-depth knowledge of social sector issues. He was one of the first to report on tigers vanishing from Sariska and Panna wildlife reserves in 2004 and 2008, respectively, leading to the setting up of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and the introduction of stringent penal provisions for poaching. He has written extensively on the rising human-animal conflict in India and the degradation of India’s biodiversity hotspots because of mining and other activities. Since 2004, Chetan has covered Parliament comprehensively and participated in training on the nuanced coverage of Parliament proceedings. He has travelled extensively across India to cover national and provincial elections since 1998, especially in the Hindi heartland states, considered India’s road to power. He writes a regular column for Hindustan Times, Ecostani, on important national politics, economy, Himalayan ecology and environmental issues. His other responsibilities include providing inputs for edits and edit page articles for the publication, apart from managing news flow from across India.Read More

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