A year ahead of parliamentary elections, the Centre is lining up the inauguration of mega infrastructure projects worth more than Rs 100 crore between September and December this year, said people with knowledge of the matter.
The Prime Minister’s Office has directed all infrastructure ministries to prepare a status report of projects above Rs 100 crore, which are slated for completion over the next two months, they said.
The ministries have been asked to specify the projects nearing completion, the project cost, physical progress, target date of completion and whether there have been any cost or time overruns.
“The ministries have been asked to prepare status reports on projects worth Rs 100 crore or more. These are projects where the foundation stones had been laid down by the Prime Minister. Most of these high worth projects are to be inaugurated by the end of this year,” said a senior government official, who did not wish to be identified.
The status reports from various ministries will be collated and inaugurations by Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be facilitated in the last quarter of 2023. The status report will also help the government in close monitoring of projects and iron out any last-minute glitches. The projects lined up for inaugurations are across sectors, including energy, urban development, housing, water resources and sanitation.
The government has been closely monitoring all the projects worth over Rs 100 crore, even installing close circuit television cameras to check absentee contractors and slow pace of work. In the last year of this term, the Centre has been showcasing its achievements across sectors through planned media familiarisation trips.
The BJP government had initiated a similar exercise at the end of its first term ahead of the 2019 parliamentary elections. However, this time the exercise comes after Covid-19 when successive lockdowns had slowed down construction activity across sectors, thereby affecting the progress of infrastructure projects.
