Centre constitutes Task Force for drawing up National Infrastructure Pipeline

The Central government on Saturday constituted a task force for drawing up the National Infrastructure Pipeline (NIP) of Rs 100 lakh crore from the fiscal year 2019-20 to 2024-25.

The Task Force headed by Economic Affairs Secretary will identify technically feasible and economically viable infrastructure projects that can be initiated during the current fiscal, an official statement said.

To achieve the gross domestic product (GDP) of five trillion dollars by 2024-25, India needs to spend about 1.4 trillion dollars (Rs 100 lakh crore) over these years on infrastructure. In the past decade (FY 2008-17), India invested about 1.1 trillion dollars on infrastructure.

"The challenge is to step-up annual infrastructure investment so that lack of infrastructure does not become a binding constraint on the growth of the Indian economy," the statement said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his Independence Day speech had highlighted that Rs 100 lakh crore would be invested in infrastructure over the next five years.

The Task Force will work on listing the projects that can be included in the pipeline for each of the remaining five years. It will also estimate annual infrastructure investment costs and guide the ministries in identifying appropriate sources of financing.

The Task Force will also suggest measures to monitor the projects so that cost and time overrun is minimised.

The Task Force will submit its report by October 31 for the fiscal year 2019-20 and on the indicative pipeline for fiscal years 2021-25 by December 31 this year.