The government plans to appoint an outside agency to prepare a report on all aspects of the existing policy and regulatory framework in various infrastructure sectors.
According to sources, the committee on infrastructure under the Planning Commission has already started the process. The need to prepare a detailed map of the Indian infrastructure regulatory framework arises from the requirement to meet infrastructure deficit in terms of capacities as well as efficiencies in delivery of infrastructure services.
This comes at a time, when the government is fine-tuning a plan to tap investments to the tune of $581 billion to boost India?s road, rail, port, telecom and other infrastructure network to a world class one. This is almost 2.3 times more than the investment received by the sector during the 10th Five-Year Plan. It is anticipated that 70.3% of this investment would come from the public sector, while remaining would be from the private sector.
The report will look at exploring and detailing out all existing policy, regulatory and procedural frameworks and specifications with regard to attracting investment in infrastructure in India. The report is also expected to highlight the changes in policies introduced in the last decade to promote greater commercialisation of infrastructure including promotion of public-private partnerships (PPP).
Sources said that report would cover sector including electricity, telecommunications, roads and bridges, railways, ports, airports, irrigation, water supply and sanitation, storage and gas distribution sectors. This, sources said that would leaf to the government working out a uniform approach towards attracting the required investments in the various sectors.
According to a senior government official, the committee on infrastructure is all set to start the process.
?The aim is evolve a policy framework that is conducive to attract investments in the sector. This is far more important as huge investments are required in the infrastructure sector, if India has to achieve the targeted 9% growth,? said the official.
The power sector, the government is targeting a power generation capacity addition of 70,000 mw, and provider electricity to all un-electrified hamlets and providing access to all rural households through Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojna (RGGVY).
In the case of national highways, it proposes six-lane the 6,500 km of Golden Quadrilateral and selected National Highways, four-laning 6,736 km on North-South and East-West Corridors, four-laning 12,109 km of National Highways, apart from widening various national highways and build a network of rural roads.
The railways on its part, during the eleventh five-year plan would build the dedicated freight corridors between Mumbai-Delhi and Ludhiana-Kolkata, apart from laying 10,300 km of new railway lines and modernising railway stations.
In the port sector, during the 11th Five-Year Plan, additional capacity of 485 million tonne would be added in major ports and 345 million tonne in minor ports. Besides, the government also plans to modernise 4 metro and 35 non-metro airports, build 7 greenfield airports and upgrade the airport infrastructure across the country.
Similarly, in telecom the government is targeting a subscriber base of 600 million, with 200 million rural telephone connections and achieve a broadband coverage of 20 million and 40 million internet connections.