Infrastructure investment in the Twelfth Five-Year Plan would be to the tune of around Rs 41 lakh crore, the Union finance minister, Pranab Mukherjee, has said.
Addressing a meeting of the consultative committee attached to the Finance Ministry, Mukherjee said that the infrastructure investment envisaged in the Twelfth Plan would be double the level of the Eleventh Plan period. The meeting was focused on the issue of infrastructure financing.
Mukherjee emphasised the importance of the infrastructure sector in accelerating the economic growth. He highlighted the initiatives taken by the Finance Ministry in enabling greater flow of funds to infrastructure sector and the challenges that lay ahead.
The finance minister also highlighted the progress made so far under “Bharat Nirman”, the Flagship Programme of the Central Government which aims to rapidly upgrade the quality of rural infrastructure in areas such as roads, water, electricity and telecom connectivity.
He said that more than 30 per cent of the total funds envisaged in infrastructure, during the Eleventh Plan period, would go directly into building and upgrading rural infrastructure.
He said that the fiscal progress in the various components of Bharat Nirman has been commendable and was confident of achieving the targets within the stipulated timeframe.
