Prime Minister Narendra Modi reviews the performance of Infrastructure sectors

New Delhi: On Thursday, 2 August, a review meeting was held between Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi and NITI Aayog to check on the progress of various infrastructure sectors such as roads, aviation, ports, railways and rural and urban housing. The meeting went on for 2 hours and was attended by the top officials of infrastructure-related ministries.

Roads: The CEO of NITI Aayog, Shri Amitabh Kant presented before the prime minister the progress of the road construction which has increased immensely since 2014 with the average road length to be constructed being 26.93 in FY 2017-18 as opposed to 11.67km in FY 2013-14. Information was also provided about the digitisation of the transport sector with 24 lakh RFID tags being issued till then and 22 percent of toll revenue coming from electronic toll collection. The ‘Sukhad Yatra’ app has had 1 lakh downloads, providing necessary road quality related information or report any accident on the highway to its users. Under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojna (PMGSY), 44000 villages have been connected to one another through a network of roads. The ‘Meri Sadak’ app which provides its users the ability to give their feedback on the pace and quality of PMGSY, has had 9.76 lakh downloads. Also, eco-friendly and non-conventional products are being used in the construction of roads.

Railways: In the railways sector, there has been an addition in capacity and rolling stock. New lines are being added with doubling and gauge conversion since 2014.

Aviation: In the aviation sector, a rise in the passenger traffic has been observed to about 62 percent from 2014 to 2018, which is 44 percent more than that in the preceeding 4 years. Also, 24airports have become operational in tier 2 and tier 3 cities under the UDAN scheme launched in the previous year on 27 April.

Ports: The traffic has increased in the ports sector by 17 percent from 2014 to 2018.

Rural housing: Under the rural housing sector, 1 crore houses have been constructed in 2014-2018 as compared to only 25 lakh in the preceeding years. Employment has also been boosted in the housing and construction sector. The average construction time has decreased to 114 days in 2017-18 as opposed to taking 314 days in 2015-16. Technology is being used to provide low cost on housing. Also, due importance is being given to disaster prevention.

Urban housing: In this sector, emphasis is being put on new construction technology. Under the Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojna, 54 lakh houses have been constructed since its launch in 2015.