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CHENNAI, March 6

THE Confederation of Indian Industry - Southern Region has taken up a study on an integrated approach to sustainable infrastructure development. It plans to release this report at the infrastructure summit being organised by it in Chennai on March 19 and 20.

The objective of the study, according to the CII, will be to look into the reasons for the slow progress in infrastructure projects, ways to reduce transit time, role of the Government and the private sector, and what the State needs to do.

The study will focus on issues such as the sustainability of transport, effective use of assets created and their maintenance, appropriate transport mix, safety of transport, and institutional mechanism, according to Mr C.K. Mohan, Director, A.F. Ferguson & Co, consultant, which is conducting the study.

Ms Mallika Srinivasan, Chairperson, infrastructure sub-committee, CII-SR, told a conference here on Thursday that the infrastructure summit — SUMINFRA 2003 — will bring together a whole host of players in the infrastructure sector — the Government, private sector and lenders. Apart from the report on sustainable infrastructure development, a white paper on the road map for integrated infrastructure development in the southern region will also be presented at the summit.

Significantly, CII has taken up jointly with the ICRA a strategic business plan for the Chennai port, which seemed to be losing traffic, while most of the other major ports in the country witnessed a growth in the cargo handled.

The infrastructure summit, she said, would deal with policy, regulatory and fiscal issues; understand the framework for private sector participation in infrastructure development; evolve a strategy for effective implementation of infrastructure projects. It would also look at working out a model for political leadership for infrastructure development.

Ms Mallika Srinivasan said that the Union Budget had placed emphasis on infrastructure development and the CII hoped that the States too would follow suit, with an added emphasis on rural infrastructure. Some of the issues that cropped up were whether the efforts adequate to achieving the targeted eight per cent growth rate in GDP, especially when international benchmarks were applied; whether current infrastructure levels contributed towards enhancing competitiveness; and was not political leadership key to infrastructure development.

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