PM to road ministry: Take up bank loan hitches with EAC
8 Dec 2012 4:45 AM IST
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has asked the Road Transport and Highways (RTH) Ministry to address the problem of banks' reluctance to give loans to infrastructure projects with the PM's Economic Advisory Council (EAC). The issue came up during a review meeting taken by the PM about the performance of key infrastructure ministries against the backdrop of his push for higher targets in these sectors so that higher economic growth can be achieved.
'The Secretary (RTH) will send a note to the chairman of the PM's EAC on the issue of RBI's treatment of loans to the roads sector as unsecured loans,' the PMO said in a statement after the meeting. A number of private companies in the road sector have raised the issue of a conservative and rigid approach by banks in providing loans to highway projects with the transport ministry.Road Secretary A K Upadhyay had recently admitted that banks have become more conservative, rigid and restrictive in financing road projects, which is holding back investment in the sector. During the meeting, Singh also expressed confidence that key ministries would be able to meet their targets.
The RTH told the PMO that it will 'try its best to award road projects as per the original targets for financial year 2012-13 and will certainly cross 8,000 km of awards by March, 2013'. Road projects of at least 3,000 km length will be awarded under the new operate, maintain and toll (OMT) method by March, 2013, according to a statement from the PMO. The Ministry has set a target of awarding projects for construction of 8,800 km of highways for 2012-13.Presenting the progress of the port sector during the meeting, the shipping ministry said that it 'will try to achieve the 2012-13 target of awarding port projects with a capacity of 245 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) by March'. The ministry has fixed a target to award 42 projects, entailing an investment of Rs 14,500 crore for capacity augmentation of the major ports in the country by 245 mmta in the current fiscal.
'The Secretary (RTH) will send a note to the chairman of the PM's EAC on the issue of RBI's treatment of loans to the roads sector as unsecured loans,' the PMO said in a statement after the meeting. A number of private companies in the road sector have raised the issue of a conservative and rigid approach by banks in providing loans to highway projects with the transport ministry.Road Secretary A K Upadhyay had recently admitted that banks have become more conservative, rigid and restrictive in financing road projects, which is holding back investment in the sector. During the meeting, Singh also expressed confidence that key ministries would be able to meet their targets.
The RTH told the PMO that it will 'try its best to award road projects as per the original targets for financial year 2012-13 and will certainly cross 8,000 km of awards by March, 2013'. Road projects of at least 3,000 km length will be awarded under the new operate, maintain and toll (OMT) method by March, 2013, according to a statement from the PMO. The Ministry has set a target of awarding projects for construction of 8,800 km of highways for 2012-13.Presenting the progress of the port sector during the meeting, the shipping ministry said that it 'will try to achieve the 2012-13 target of awarding port projects with a capacity of 245 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) by March'. The ministry has fixed a target to award 42 projects, entailing an investment of Rs 14,500 crore for capacity augmentation of the major ports in the country by 245 mmta in the current fiscal.
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