The prime minister said the government has roped in private players to create better physical infrastructure as the government alone cannot mobilise huge resources required for this purpose.
Noting that lack of physical infrastructure is affecting the economic development, prime minister Manmohan Singh today said the government would take more steps to improve facilities and also called upon the private sector to participate in these efforts.
"There is a large deficit in our physical infrastructure which affects our economic development adversely. There is a shortfall in the supply of electricity to industries. Our roads, ports and airports are not of world standards," Singh said while addressing the nation on the 64th Independence Day.
The prime minister said the government has roped in private players to create better physical infrastructure as the government alone cannot mobilise huge resources required for this purpose.
"We have been trying to increase electricity production and improve our roads, ports and airports. The resources required to create good physical infrastructure are difficult for the government alone to mobilise. Therefore, we have endeavoured to involve the private sector in our efforts," he said.
Singh highlighted that the steps that the UPA government took after coming to power in 2004 to improve physical infrastructure have "started bearing fruit now".
Citing example of a new terminal of the Delhi airport that he dedicated to the nation recently, he said: "This is an excellent terminal which has been completed in record time. We will continue to make such efforts to improve our physical infrastructure".
On March 23, prime minister Manmohan Singh had said that investment in infrastructure should be doubled to about Rs 41 lakh crore during the 12th Five-Year Plan ending 2017 from the prevailing level.
"Preliminary exercises suggest that investment in infrastructure will have to expand to USD 1,000 billion in the 12th Five-Year Plan. I urged the Finance Ministry and the Planning Commission to draw a plan of action for achieving this level of investment," he had said at a conference on building infrastructure hosted by the Planning Commission.
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