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 on Monday, 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 plan.

Dr. Singh said the private sector has a potential to play an important role in the development of rural infrastructure and will save cost overruns. He said that infusion of private capital will also ease the pressure on limited resources and improve the efficiency of service delivery. The Prime Minister assured that contracts to private players will be awarded in a fair and transparent manner.

Dr. Singh said State Governments have to play a crucial role in developing road infrastructure and the objective of infrastructure development to push the growth can not be achieve without their participation.

The Prime Minister said an Infrastructure Debt Fund is being set up to enhance the work on the long term projects. He added, a level committee is already examining measures for financing such ambitious projects.

AIR correspondent reports the government has set a target of upgrading 20 Kilometers National Highways per day. Under the National Highways Development Programme, about 25 thousand Kilometers roads are proposed to build through PPP mode during the next three years.