Project Monitoring Group’s infrastructure development push in India’s 5 trillion pursuit

Author: Drushti Joshi

The Project Monitoring Group (PMG) was set up as a special cell in the Cabinet Secretariat, Government of India in 2013 with a view to removing bottlenecks in setting up of major infrastructure projects and accelerating the pace of project executions. Subsequently, the PMG was brought under the administrative control of the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) in September 2015 and has been merged early this year with Invest India, Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade. The PMG facilitates issue resolution pertaining to large scale projects by working with leadership at the state and central ministry-level to address issues specific to them. 

In the spirit of upholding its mandate, a state-level meeting to review pending issues persisting with the state departments in Odisha was conducted under the Chairmanship of the Hon’ble Chief Secretary (Odisha) in Bhubaneswar on 9 August 2019. Some of the noteworthy highlights from this meeting are as follows:

• 24 projects worth INR 54,000 crores were reviewed for expedited implementation.
• These included pioneering projects such as the first-ever railway line since Independence to districts such as Bolangir and Kalahandi.
• The policy matter of producing EPC contracts for railway projects upward of INR 100 crores was also brought to the attention of the Hon’ble Chief Secretary as this requirement is creating an impediment for the execution at the field level.

Stakeholders from across the board, including members of PMG, Invest India and the Department for the Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade were present at the meeting to facilitate the proceedings. Notable insights were received from the state representatives as well as project proponents regarding the expedited resolution of issues and improvement of PMG portal (e-Suvidha). 

Large-scale infrastructure projects are extremely crucial to capital formation in a country and states like Odisha, with its rich mining deposits will play a crucial role in national development. Project Monitoring Groups will continue to work with various stakeholders to ensure more and more infrastructure investments are grounded and the Indian growth story can reach the farthest and the poorest.