New Delhi, August 09:With road projects facing hurdles, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has constituted a committee to recommend ways to expedite them and make them attractive for banks and private investors amid the global recession.
The decision was taken at the Prime Minister-chaired meeting held yesterday to review the Transport Ministry’s ambitious plan of developing 35,000 km of National Highways in the next five years.
The committee, to be headed by Planning Commission member B K Chaturvedi, will submit its report to the Prime Minister in two weeks, an official release said here.
The committee’s terms of reference to suggest ways to expedite the process of executing the road projects assume significance as Road Transport Minister Kamal Nath expressed concern at the meeting over the long time-frame required for road project implementation.
He pointed out that the current process takes almost three years for work to start from the conception of a road project and another three years for the project to get completed.
At the meeting, also attended by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Nath said road development is an economic stimulus that creates permanent assets.