The Government has launched ‘Setu bharatam’ project:

to make all National Highways railway crossing free by the year 2019.

to improve road safety is intended to prevent accidents and make travel safer.

Under the project 208 places have been identified for construction of rail over-bridges or underpasses. In addition to the above, 1500 new bridges are also proposed to be constructed to replace the old bridges.

INFRASTRUCTURE SECTOR: CHALLENGES

Indian economy is suffering from infrastructure deficit. Highways, modern bridges, world-class airports, reliable power, and clean water are in desperately short supply. It adds significantly to the cost of doing business, infrastructure bottlenecks deter foreign and private investors, and constrain the process of growth.

In fact, estimates suggest that the lack of proper infrastructure pulls down India’s GDP growth by 1-2 per cent every year. The fast growth of the Indian economy in recent years has placed increasing stress on physical infrastructure, such as electricity, railways, roads, ports, airports, irrigation, urban and rural water supply, and sanitation, all of which already suffer from a substantial deficit.

Physical infrastructure has a direct impact on the growth and overall development of an economy. The goals of inclusive growth and a 9 per cent growth in GDP can be achieved only if this is overcome. Infrastructure development will help in creating a better investment climate in India.

                        Infrastructure financing an underdeveloped sector Special attention is required for the financing needs of private sector investment in infrastructure. Another largest roadblock for development of infrastructure would be the issue of land acquisition.

Most of the infrastructure projects in India suffer from delays in completion. This is mainly due to an inadequate regulatory framework and inefficiency in the approval process. Infrastructure projects require multiple sequential clearances at various levels of government. There is a need to setup an independent regulatory body like SEBI for infrastructure. The primary role of this body would be to attract private investments and protect the investor for various risks. Second, there is a need to have an authority which should take care of sovereign obstacles. The basic role of this body will be to remove the obstacles for public projects and monitor the development of the project.