FM Sitharaman chairs key meet; focus on faster post Covid-19 recovery, NIP

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in a virtual meeting on Friday discussed post-budget action points for infrastructure roadmap ahead including NIP (National Infrastructure Pipeline) implementation with CEO of the NITI Aayog and Secretaries of 22 Infrastructure Ministries/Departments. The third review meeting chaired by Finance Minister focused on "ensuring a faster post-Covid-19 recovery of the economy."

'NIP has shown substantial progress'

The Ministry of Finance informed that the NIP has shown substantial progress even after the crisis occurred due to the Covid-19 pandemic in the country. The official statement issued by the Finance Ministry read, "The NIP was launched with 6,835 projects which have now been expanded to nearly 7,600 projects. It has witnessed accelerated spending on infrastructure projects in Ministries, especially in Q2/Q3 FY21. Around 216 projects worth Rs. 74,067 crore under GoI infrastructure ministries have been completed till Q3 FY 21. Around 678 projects worth Rs. 6 lakh crore have progressed from the lower stage to the upper stage of project formulation and implementation till Q3 FY 21."

According to the Finance Ministry, the CEO, NITI Aayog explained how the government can finalize the targets for asset monetization. It presented models and key highlights for monetization of core infrastructure assets. During the meeting, Nirmala Sitharaman anayzed the presentation given by the NITI Aayog and said, "NIP will play a critical role in revitalizing economy post-pandemic." FM requested the departments to focus on achieving more NIP targets. 

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'Provide all the help to the private sector' 

Sitharaman added, "NIP is not just central government budgetary expenditure on Infrastructure. It also includes infra spending by states and the private sector. It also includes government expenditure through extra-budgetary resources. Therefore, Ministries/Departments should actively work on getting the project funded through innovative structuring and financing, provide all the help and support to the private sector for enhanced infra spending."

In a meeting, the Ministries/Departments were asked to explore PPP mode for viable projects. They have also been instructed to use government funding for pushing infrastructure projects. FM added that she will hold regular review meetings with all ministries/departments. 

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