Moily Express Puts Stalled Projects Back on Green Track
Axed Environment Minister Jayanthi Natarajan may be sulking on being unceremoniously divested of her portfolio, but the fact remains that she was sitting on 15 projects worth Rs. 5 lakh crore for the last eight months, despite them being cleared by the Cabinet Committee on Investment (CCI). Now, her successor M Veerappa Moily has breathed new life into the projects by fast-tracking them.
The change is visible in the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) after Moily took over the reins as he has asked the ministry to put the projects on fast track as all issues related to the projects were resolved by the CCI and there was no reason for them to be delayed. “We are seeing a movement in cases pending with the Environment Ministry and files are actually being pushed and we hope in the next two weeks, a decision would be made on many pending issues,” said an official at the Cabinet Secretariat.
Moily, who also holds the petroleum portfolio, is spending a lot of time in the MoEF, shuttling between his Shastri Bhawan and CGO Complex offices. Of the 15 projects cleared by the Project Monitoring Group (PMG) of the CCI, the largest number of pending projects was from the coal, power, petroleum and natural gas, steel, road transport and highways sectors.
The PMG had resolved issues pertaining to 29 projects pending with the Environment Ministry after holding meetings with all the respective ministries. While 14 projects were finally cleared by the MoEF, 15 are still pending.
Project Monitoring Group Status
| Issues resolved | 29 |
| Projects cleared | 14 |
Of the pending projects, about three each from the power, steel and petroleum sectors are worth over Rs. 1.5 lakh crore. The projects of the road, transport and highways ministry are worth Rs. 3,379 crore, while those of the commerce and industry ministry are worth Rs. 2,400 crore.
Project Estimates
| Power, Steel and Petroleum sectors | Rs. 1.5 lakh crore |
| Road, Transport and Highways ministry | Rs. 3,379 crore |
| Commerce and Industry ministry | Rs. 2,400 crore |
The expansion of the iron ore mine at Gua, Jharkhand, is worth Rs. 3,000 crore and the share of projects owned by private companies is Rs. 1,000 crore and that of private coal companies Rs. 4,583 crore. For all the projects, the ministry is yet to give any valid reason for delaying environment and forest clearance even after all issues were resolved. The CCI has sought an Action Taken Report (ATR) by the first week of January.
Also Read: