India Infrastructure Research has tracked 521 infrastructure projects in the power sector that are on the drawing board, and at various stages of planning. The total value of these projects is estimated at over Rs 37.8 trillion.
Based on these projects, the sector is due to receive the highest investment of Rs 20.4 trillion, followed by the railway sector (Rs 10.08 trillion), road sector (Rs 3 trillion), urban rail sector (Rs 2.95 trillion), port sector (Rs 577.6 billion), airports (Rs 558.23 billion), and the water supply and sewerage sector (Rs 210 billion).
In terms of stakes and ownership (based on information available for 460 projects), 251 projects entailing an investment of around Rs 21.7 trillion are to be developed by the government, or its agencies (Centre/states/local bodies/pubic sector undertakings) and 209 projects (Rs 13.4 trillion) are to be developed on public-private partnership (PPP) or fully private basis.
The top 10 projects account for over 31 per cent (Rs 11.7 trillion) of the expected investment. Overall, the biggest projects are in the railway and power sectors. The biggest infrastructure project in the pipeline is the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC). This project alone entails investment of over Rs 4.2 trillion. Its scope involves developing a 1,483 km rail corridor, spread across seven states and supporting smart cities planned to be developed along the corridor. Due to its massive scale, the project is being bid out in sections and construction work is expected to start in March 2016.
Another major project is the Upper Siang Hydroelectric Project in Andhra Pradesh. The project scope covers the construction of several hydroelectric power dams, entailing an investment of Rs 1 trillion. The project will have a capacity of 9,750 MW.
The biggest PPP projects are lined up in the railway sector. The Visakhapatnam-Chennai Industrial Corridor Project Phase I and the Delhi-Chandigarh-Amritsar High Speed Rail Corridor Project will together entail an investment of Rs 1.8 trillion.
In the road sector, the 744 km Mumbai-Nagpur Communication Expressway Project at an investment of Rs 372.7 billion is the largest PPP project. For the power sector, the Machilipatnam thermal power project (Rs 316.8 billion) will be the largest to be developed on PPP basis, followed by the Kutch SEZ coal-based power project (Rs 280.05 billion).
Out of all these, 28 projects are currently under bidding. In terms of investments, the projects under bidding represent over 17 per cent (Rs 6.5 trillion) of the total investments in the pipeline. Apart from the DMIC, the key projects under bidding include the Tilaiya ultra mega power project (Rs 360 billion); Mumbai Metro Phase I Line 2 Project (Rs 289 billion), Intra-State Transmission System Project (Green Energy Corridor 1) (Rs 150.7 billion); and the Navi Mumbai International Airport Project (Rs 140 billion). All these are expected to be awarded in 2017.
To conclude, although there are many important projects in the pipeline, issues that cause persistent delays such as land acquisition, clearances, policy hurdles, etc. are still to be tackled so as to ensure that the implementation is smooth.
