India to spend $1 tn on infrastructure

As fears of a double dip recession plague world economy, government of India has buckled up so that the country bucks the global plunge.

New Delhi: The government is looking at investments of over $1 trillion over the next five years in the infrastructure sector - double the investment seen during the current 11th five year plan.
While addressing a conference on attracting investments in the highways sector on Monday, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh revealed government's plan to set a target of nine per cent growth in the coming years, which would require investments of over $1 trillion. About half of this amount will come from the private sector.
With this target, the UPA-II government, which undergoing an identity crisis, aims to tide over the downslide by pushing forward its development agenda.
The Centre has even reworked its plans to meet the target of building 20 km of highways every day, just in time before the 2014 elections. Ironically, the target was to be achieved last year.
The road transport minister C.P. Josi said, "We will be awarding 7,300 kilometers of highways contract this year, followed by the same number in the next consecutive years. So, after three years when 21,000 km of highways projects are underway we will meet the target of building 20 km of highways every day."