Coal news and updates

Govt clears 296 projects worth Rs 6.6 tn till January

February 17: The Union government has expedited project clearances and okayed 296 projects worth Rs 660,000 crore till January 2014, Finance Minister P Chidambaram said in his Interim Budget speech for 2014-15 on February 17.

He said, in 2012-13 and in the nine months of 2013-14, the government added 29,350 MW of power capacity, 3,928 km of national highways, 39,144 km of rural roads under PMGSY, 3,343 km of new railway tracks and 217.5 million tons of capacity per annum in the port sector.

Besides, 19 oil and gas blocks were given out for exploration and 7 new airports are under construction. The minister further added that the government has set up the Cabinet Committee on Investment and the Project Monitoring Group to speed up the implementation of projects. It has also facilitated infrastructure debt funds to provide take-out finance for infrastructure projects and ease the pressure on the banking system.