Prime Minister Narendra Modi has reviewed performance of key infrastructure sectors including roads, railways, airports, ports and coal. The review meeting, held yesterday, was attended by top officials from the Prime Minister’s Office, NITI Ayog and all infrastructure Ministries. It was noted that remarkable progress has been made in several areas and infrastructure sectors.

In a broad overview of the progress in the roads and railways sectors, Mr Modi called for a consolidated approach to existing projects, and working towards their completion within strict timelines. The meeting was informed that the highest ever average daily construction rate of 130 kilometre has been achieved for rural roads under Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana. Over 11,600 additional habitations have been connected with roads in 2016-17. Over 4,000 kilometres rural roads have been constructed using green technology during the period.

The Prime Minister directed stringent monitoring of rural road construction and quality. For this, he emphasised on the use of space technology. He also called for expeditious completion of vital links to connect the remaining unconnected habitations. He asked NITI Ayog to examine global standards in the application of technology for infrastructure creation and their feasibility in the country.

Noting the decline in import of coal during last year, the Prime Minister asked for more vigorous efforts towards coal import substitution and application of new coal technologies including gasification. Rationalisation of coal linkages and movement yielded an annual saving of over 2500 crore rupees in 2016-17.