The Hindu Business Line : Plan panel to speed up financial closures of infrastructure projects

New Delhi, Nov. 19 The Planning Commission will discuss with the Finance Ministry how best the financial closures of infrastructure projects could be speeded up to generate activity in the economy and revive demand, said Mr Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission.

The Finance Ministry and the Planning Commission are keen to ensure that financing of infrastructure projects are not hindered, especially when recessionary trends were expected to continue in the developed markets in the next fiscal as well.

“It is very important that we start planning now, so that next year we are ready to provide a major thrust to infrastructure. We must ensure that financing of these projects is not a problem. We are looking at what is possible,” Mr Ahluwalia told reporters here at a function to mark co-operation between the Plan Panel and UK’s Department for International Development (DFID) on impact evaluation of public work programmes.

Mr Ahluwalia and UK’s Secretary of State for International Development, Mr Douglas Alexander, agreed that there was a need to improve methods for assessing whether policies were delivering on the ground and to make sure that the programmes were being implemented in the interest of the poor.

“People have a right to know whether development programmes work, and that tax payers’ money is being spent effectively. The Commission will use cutting edge techniques to assess its flagship programmes and, in turn, use this information to inform future policy,” Mr Ahluwalia said.

Mr Alexander said that, like the Planning Commission, the DFID was stepping up its work to show that what it does was delivering results for the poor and achieving value for money.

“We will take forward the evaluation of our own contributions to Government programmes. We will also support the Planning Commission in its broader work on impact valuation. This collaboration will pave the way for better designed policies that deliver better results, in India and worldwide,” Mr Alexander said.

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