The government on Friday cleared infrastructure projects worth more than Rs 25,500 crore. It sent clear instructions to various departments to clear all procedural hurdles for these projects, covering the highways, urban metro and power sectors.
The move mirrors a sense of urgency within the government, which is battling allegations of governance deficit.
Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee reviewed the implementation of three major projects — the Hinduja group’s proposed thermal power project at Visakhapatnam, L&T’s metro rail project in Hyderabad and a National Highway Authority of India project in Andhra Pradesh.
While the Hinduja group’s thermal power project involves about Rs 6,000 crore, L&T’s metro project will require more than Rs 16,000 crore. The NHAI project is worth Rs 3,500 crore.
Commerce and industry minister Anand Sharma, environment minister Jayanthi Natarajan and power minister Sushil Kumar Shinde attended the review meeting.
“We have discussed clearance of projects worth Rs 37,000 crore and projects worth R25,500 crore have been cleared today. These projects will now start implementation,” financial services secretary DK Mittal said.
These projects were part of 12 key projects the government had identified for quick implementation.