Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman Holds Review Meeting On Capital Expenditure For Power, Coal and Atomic Energy

To give a fillip to capital expenditure (CAPEX) and infrastructure progress in the country, Union Minister for Finance Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday (1 November) chaired review meetings with Ministry of Power, Ministry of Coal and Department of Atomic Energy, an official release said.

The review meetings were attended by Secretary (Economic Affairs), Secretary (Power), Secretary (Coal), Secretary (Atomic Energy), Additional Secretary (Coal), Joint Secretary (Economic Affairs) amongst others.

The Finance Minister emphasised that there must be close monitoring for infrastructure spending on-ground and ministries must continuously make concerted efforts, including enhanced coordination with all states to ensure that project implementation is fast-tracked, the Ministry of Finance said in a release.

During the meeting, CAPEX achievements of Q1 and Q2, estimated targets of capital spending by ministries and their Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs) in the upcoming quarters of current financial year, expenditure incurred for implementation of National Infrastructure Pipeline (NIP) projects, estimation of funds to be raised by asset monetization, projects undertaken through PPP and Convergence under National Master Plan (Gati Shakti) were discussed.

Sitharaman exhorted officials to review project implementation besides monitoring release of funds. She reiterated that infrastructure projects are a priority for the government and their on-track performance is important for the economy.

The Finance Minister also directed officials in Department of Economic Affairs (DEA) to work in close coordination with Ministries/Departments to ensure that project implementation via civil works is not hampered due to any lack of coordination amongst agencies (like contractors), or by delay in procurement of necessary equipment from international markets.

In the review with Ministry of Power (MoP), Sitharaman observed that Ministry of Planning (MoP) must increase outreach to states to facilitate project implementation by obtaining necessary clearances in time. In discussion with Ministry of Coal, Sitharaman observed that efforts must be made to ensure timely completion of projects. In review with Department of Atomic Energy, the Finance Minister stressed on the need to track civil works closely and take pro-active steps regarding procurement of key international equipment in coordination with Ministry of External Affairs and Department of Economic Affairs.

The series of review meetings starting last week of October ‘21 is the second of series of review meetings by the Finance Minister on CAPEX with various infrastructure Ministries/Departments and in continuation of previous round of meetings held in June 2021.