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New Delhi, Aug 27:  

The Prime Minister Manmohan Singh headed Cabinet Committee on Investment on Monday had set rigid datelines to clear the bottlenecks hampering private projects with an envisaged investment of Rs 85,141 crore.

Finance Minister P. Chidambaram on Tuesday said the high-level panel reviewed 36 infrastructure projects with a total investment of Rs 1.83 lakh crore.

"Disbursements would start as the approvals are being given. Clearly the signal is projects are not being stalled. Stalled projects have been unblocked. What I say today, would be heard by banks also. The banks' Chairmen waiting to disburse funds would do it now," Chidambaram told media persons.

These projects are categorised into three groups.

Land-environment issues

The committee took up eight private projects on case-to-case basis. These projects bear an investment of Rs 85,141 crore. Of this, Rs 25,034 crore has been released by banks and other financial institutions.

These projects include:

Sasan Power: Stage-I clearance has been given. This is to be verified by the State of Madhya Pradesh on ground. Once the promoter (Reliance Power) deposits the security, the stage-II clearance would be offered.

L&T Metro Rail: All approvals have been given. The Ministry of Urban Development reported that the project is proceeding according to the benchmarks and the milestones.

Hindalco Industries: The Company's project in Odisha would be placed before the SEZ approval board on August 30 for final decision.

Jaiprakash Power Ventures: The developer of the Nigire project in Madhya Pradesh has not yet identified the land for compensatory of forest area. So, the developer has to be asked to get on to the job.

GMR Kishangarg express way: All approvals would be given and the matter would be brought to the Cabinet by September 15.

JAS Infra and Power: The promoter is holding up the matter for the Jharkhand project. So the Government does not need to take any action. The company has not even made an application for the stage-I clearance.

Utkal Alumina: The water is to be drawn from Hirakud reservoir in Odisha. The Ministry of Water Resources has taken up the matter with the State but there is no response.

So, Minister for Water Resources Harish Rawat has been advised to call up Chief Minister of Odisha Naveen Patnaik to find out why the State has not yet taken the decision.

Athena Chhattisgarh Power: All milestones would be approved and FSA would be signed by September 9.

Essar Power's Tori-I power plant: Jharkhand has to send the proposal to the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) within a week. Thereafter, the matter would be placed before the Forest Advisory Committee within two weeks. The entire process would be completed by September 20.

Coal supply

Another group of projects taken up by the Prime Minister-headed panel include 18 power projects that are in queue to seal the fuel supply agreements (FSA) with Coal India Ltd.

These projects have total investments of Rs 83,772 crore. Of this, banks and financial institutions have already disbursed Rs 30,313 crore.

"All these projects were supposed to get FSA by August 31. Bulk of them would be completed by this date. But, there is likely to be some slippage. And we therefore stipulated September 6 by when FSA should be signed," the Finance Minister said.

Resolved projects

Chidambaram said that another nine projects in different sectors such as petroleum, roads, railways and steel have been reviewed and there are no pending issues with them.

These projects have investments worth Rs 14,084 crore. Of this, Rs 1,484 crore has been disbursed. The project would come back to the committee only as action taken reports, he added.

Siddhartha.s@thehindu.co.in

shishir.sinha@thehindu.co.in

(This article was published on August 27, 2013)