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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | 38% large projects face green roadblocks -Sidhartha

38% large projects face green roadblocks -Sidhartha

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published Published on Dec 23, 2013   modified Modified on Dec 23, 2013
-The Times of India


NEW DELHI: Almost two out of every five large projects in the country are held up due to absence of clearance by the ministry of environment and forests, putting pressure on the government to remove green roadblocks.

According to ministry-wise data compiled by the government for projects worth over Rs 1,000 crore, nearly 38% are related to MoEF, which many view as the most powerful inspector, followed by the coal ministry, which accounted for 20% of the projects that were stuck.

With economic growth hovering around the 5% mark, clearing roadblocks faced by infrastructure projects has been a key task before the government for the past 12 months and it had set up the Cabinet Committee on Investment as well as the project monitoring group (PMG) in the cabinet secretariat to ensure that the corporate sector gets back to pumping in money into the economy, creates jobs and in the process clears bank loans, several of which have turned sticky as projects have not taken off for years after being sanctioned.

There are nearly 400 project developers, each investing at least Rs 1,000 crore, who have approached the government to get power, port, steel, coal and oil and gas projects held up due to various reasons back on track. Although the delay is on account of various factors, industry players complain that getting environment clearances remains the biggest stumbling block despite CCI initiating moves to speed up approvals.

On Saturday, Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi too recognized green clearances as a challenge. "There is excessive administrative and judicial discretion. The loopholes are so big you can drive a truck through some of them. Environmental and social damage must be avoided, but decisions must also be transparent, timely and fair," he told a meeting organized by industry body Ficci.

In fact, Jayanthi Natrajan's resignation as environment and forest minister on Saturday is seen to be a fallout of the tough posture that the green ministry has adopted since Jairam Ramesh took charge in 2004.

"While environment is a very important issue, projects that are not going to come in the way of environment issues should be put on fast track. We need a positive view as it will create further investment and will have direct impact on the economy," said Chandrajit Banerjee, director general of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).

With a majority of the projects hit by inter-ministerial wrangling located in mineral-rich states, several of which are not Congress-ruled, the pressure has only mounted. For instance, official data shows that nearly half the held-up Rs 1,000 crore-plus projects are in Odisha and Jharkhand.

While project clearances have been speeded up as ministries have been forced to sort out differences, the bigger success seems to have been in getting the coal ministry to allocate fuel to fire thermal power plants. Data shows that of the 120-odd projects cleared over the last six months or so, over two-thirds involved making coal available, while less than a quarter can breathe easy as MoEF has finally given them the green signal.


The Times of India, 23 December, 2013, http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/38-large-projects-face-green-roadblocks/articleshow/27763418.cms


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