Core sector projects to get fast clearance

NEW DELHI, March 22: In a bid to kickstart infrastructure projects, the BJP-led coalition government is setting up an inter-ministerial pane...

NEW DELHI, March 22: In a bid to kickstart infrastructure projects, the BJP-led coalition government is setting up an inter-ministerial panel to clear all proposals which have been hanging fire for a long time, sources in the government said. The panel will consist of secretaries from all concerned ministries and will clear projects within a fixed timeframe. It will be in a nature of a “high-powered single window” clearing body for core sector projects.

First on the panel’s agenda will be getting the fast-track power projects off the starting block. The move which has got the approval of all the coalition partners of

BJP has been tailored to project the new government as reform friendly. “The government is committed to the National Agenda where it has promised to focus the government’s energies on building adequate infrastructure,” a highly placed government source said.

Several projects in the power sector have been waiting for clearance for a long time. Power companies have to go through thetortuous process of negotiating power purchase agreements (PPA) with state electricity boards (SEBs) and then going to the Central Electricity Authority for a final clearance.

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British power company, National Power is not as yet sure whether it will be able to go ahead with its 1,000 mw power plant at Vizag. Also waiting in the queue are projects by two other British companies, PowerGen and National Grid. US companies waiting in the queue are Cogentrix, AES Transfer, Eastern Generation and National Grid.

The panel will chalk out a strategy to exempt showcase multi-state power projects from having to obtain techno-economic clearance from the Central Electricity Authority. Showcase projects are power projects with a capacity of more than 1,000 mw which serve more than one state. The government plans to award these projects on the basis of direct negotiations rather than competitive bidding.

In the telecom sector satellite based mobile telephony project proposals of companies such as Iridium, ICO Globaland Globalstar are still in the grey area where their fate is not known after more than two years of negotiating with various agencies.

Globalstar which is a consortium of three companies has been rejected by the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) four times. It only has a provisional clearance from the FIPB and is waiting for a final clearance from the DoT.