Private companies are likely to invest Rs 37,782 crore in roads, ports and airports

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during 2010-11.

According to the planning commission, the national highways development programme (NHDP) is expected to get Rs 21,256 crore from private players, while the government would spend Rs 14,424.86 crore in the current financial year.

In major ports, the private companies are expected to invest Rs 13,891.19 crore. Ports like Haldia and Paradip are likely to get Rs 381 crore and Rs 957.97 crore respectively. The Jawahar Lal Nehru Port Trust would get the biggest investment of Rs 7,000 core. Even Kandla and Ennore are expected to have investments of Rs 1,966.63 crore and 1,407 crore from the private companies.

The four public-private airports in Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Bangalore are expected to receive an investment of Rs 2,635 crore. This would be a part of planning commission’s $500 billion (Rs 22,50,000 crore) expected investment in infrastructure during 11th five-year plan. Of which, 40 per cent is likely to come from private players.

In the budget, the central outlay for roads have been fixed at Rs 45,535.73 crore, for ports and light houses Rs 2,241 crore, for civil aviation Rs 9,467 crore, for railways Rs 40,549 crore and for power Rs 66,096.94 crore.

The panel will play a watchdog to ensure that these investments flow in. It has announced quarterly targets for power, roads, ports, civil aviation and railways and will assess these targets after every three months. “We will monitor the progress every quarter and refer it back to the cabinet committee on infrastructure (CCI) in case there are some issues. The mechanism has been set up with the directions from prime minister. Planning commission was asked to discuss these targets with ministries,” Montek Singh Ahluwalia, deputy chairman of planning commission, said. The targets have been set in consultation with the ministries concerned. Though they are expected to meet them on time, Ahluwalia said there will be no punitive action against those departments which fail to meet them.

In the road sector, the contradiction between the targets of road ministry and planning commission continued. The plan panel expects to construct 2,500 km during 2010-11 as against 2,008 km last year. This is far below road minister Kamal Nath’s target of building 7,000 km per year.

For power and railways, the panel has set only physical target. As per the annual target for power sector, the panel expects an addition of 20,359 megawatt in 2010-11. This is against 14,507 megawatt targeted last year.

In railways, the target has been kept moderate. The railways are expected to procure 18,000 new wagons, 4,000 coaches, 530 locomotives and add 1.19 km new lines for better freight and passenger movement.