Early decision expected on NIB: FM

The government on Thursday indicated it would soon set up the National Investment Board (NIB) under Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to give expeditious clearances to mega projects.

“A proposal is under consideration for constitution of a Cabinet committee with Prime Minister as chairman to expedite decisions on approvals/clearances for implementation of projects. It is expected the government would taken an early decision on the proposal,” Finance Minister P Chidambaram said in Rajya Sabha in a written reply. Comments from various ministries and departments on the draft Cabinet note in this regard were under consideration, he added.

The minister was replying to a question on whether the government was considering a proposal to create NIB.

Chidambaram said it was felt that the delays in various approvals/clearances had an adverse impact on growth, employment generation and time/cost overruns in the individual projects.

The proposed Cabinet committee, he said, would monitor and review the implementation of major projects to ensure accelerated and time-bound grant of various licences, permissions and approvals and prescribe time limits.

“The ministry/department would be expected to take a decision after due diligence on the application within the stipulated time period.

In case the decision is not taken within the stipulated time period, the committee would look into the reasons for delays and facilitate decision-making on critical issues to de-bottleneck key impediments by fast-tracking the required approvals/clearances, Chidambaram said.

He had earlier said the proposed committee would take up projects worth at least Rs 1,000 crore.