Infrastructure-related ministries to boost economy’s development prospects: FM

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Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman ordered infrastructure-related ministries to join forces to ensure more capital spending in the coming months in order to bolster the economy’s development prospects.

Sitharaman assessed the Ministry of Civil Aviation’s and Department of Telecommunications’ capital expenditure status. Secretaries of economic affairs, civil aviation, and telecom, among other officials, attended the assessment meetings. The discussion was the first in a series of capex review meetings between the Finance Minister and several infrastructure ministries and departments, and it follows a prior round of meetings in June 2021.

Sitharaman stressed that infrastructure development must be expedited and that ministries must continue to work together to guarantee that projects are completed promptly.

During the meeting, the status of capex in the June and September quarters, front-loading of capex, estimated capital spending targets by ministries and their central public sector enterprises (CPSEs) for the upcoming quarters of the current financial year, expenditure incurred for the implementation of National Infrastructure Pipeline (NIP) projects, estimation of funds to be raised through asset monetization, projects undertaken through PPP, and convergence under the National Master Plan (Gati) were discussed.

In addition to monitoring the release of funds, the Finance Minister urged officials to check project implementation. Infrastructure projects are a top priority for the government, according to Sitharaman, and the required funds will be made available for capital spending.