September 12, 2011 8:01 PM

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Govt to double investment in infrastructure over next five years

The government will double investment in the next five years to speed up development of infrastructure in the country. Inaugurating a conference on Public Private Parternership, PPP on National Highways in New Delhi today, Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh said the investment in this sector will rise to about one trillion dollars. He said this is necessary to achieve the target of 9 per cent growth during the 12th five year planThe Prime Minister Dr.Manmohan Singh also called for complete transparency in awarding of the highway projects to eliminate the possibility of favouritism or crony capitalism. Dr.Singh said that the public interest must be foremost while implementing these projects .He exuded confidence that economy has the resilience to live up to challenges that lie ahead.Moreover, Dr.Singh said, that high level of investment in infrastructure sector is one of the important preconditions for achieving 9 per cent economic growth target during the 12th Plan. It is 8.2 per cent in the current Plan. Prime Minister further said that the government has been successful in attracting large volumes of private investment in the road sector.He said that contract awards exceeded about 4,800 kilometers in 2010-11, and the Road Transport and Highways Ministry is well poised to award of 7,300 kilometer this year, to fulfil government's resolve to build 20 kilometer a day. Prime Minister asked the Ministry to accelerate this programme to increase the reach of the National Highway Devolpment Projects across the country. Talking about the financing constraints faced by infrastructure projects, Dr.Singh said the Finance Ministry is also taking the initiative to set up Infrastructure Debt Fund to enhance the flow of the much needed long-term debt in infrastructure projects. He said financing an ambitious highways programme will no doubt require substantial resources and some parts of the network can only be developed through public investment.The Prime Minsiter said that India has attained the second rank globally among developing countries in attracting private investment for infrastructure projects.

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