Major infra sectors miss output targets in FY10: Govt report

Important infrastructure sectors, including railways, power and crude oil, have missed the output targets during 2009-10, says an official assessment.

The sectors which achieved the production targets during the fiscal are coal, fertilisers and refinery (petroleum), said the annual review of the infrastructure sector performance prepared by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation.

The report comes amid the government's decision to strengthen mechanism for quarterly monitoring of the physical targets of all infrastructure sector ministries by Cabinet Committee of Infrastructure, which is headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Besides, the government is also in the process of setting up an infrastructure fund with seed money of Rs 50,000 crore to make available finance on sustainable basis for all PPP infrastructure projects in the country.

During 2009-10, the Railways moved 887.99 million tonnes of goods which 0.02 per cent lower than the target of 890 million tonnes. However, the freight movement was 6.6 per cent higher than that in 2008-09.

The power generation of 771.55 million units in 2009-10 was 2.3 per cent lower than the target, but it was 6.8 per cent higher than the generation in 2008-09.

The crude oil production at 33.69 million tonnes was 11.4 per cent lower than the target for 2009-10. However, the output was marginally higher by 0.5 per cent than what was achieved in 2008-09.

The coal production of 526.15 million tonnes in 2009-10 was slightly (0.1 per cent) less than the target, but recorded a growth of 8 per cent over dry fuel output in 2008-09.

The production of fertilisers was 16.22 which was marginally higher (0.1 per cent) higher than target for 2009-10. It recorded a growth of 13.2 per cent in 2009-10 over the production in the previous fiscal.

The overall refinery during the last fiscal was 160.12 million tonnes, which was 4.5 per cent higher than the target for the period. The production in 2009-10, however, was marginally lower than that in the previous year.