Saturday, August 27 2005 17:19 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Bangalore: The under utilisation of water resources and irrigation projects and failure to link the laboratory research to the farm had been major stumbling blocks in achieving the targeted growth of four per cent in the agricultural sector, Dr Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Deputy Chairman Planning Commission, said in Bangalore today (Aug 27, 2005).

The growth in the agriculture sector had declined from 3.2 per cent to around 1.5 per cent, Ahluwalia said while delivering a lecture on 'Indian economy-Vision 2020' at a function organised by the Bangalore Chamber of Industry and Commerce here today.

Attributing the low growth to below potential tapping of irrigation projects and failure to address the issue of moisture conservation in dry agriculture seasons, he said that several of agriculture projects had been delayed either due to failure to get pre-project clearance or due to lack of resources and faulty designs.

Slowing down of research link from the laboratory to the farms had also adversely affected the growth.

The need of the hour was to diversify from agricultural grain sector to non-grain sector, including horticulture, milk and dairy products and to ensure aggressive marketing.

Linking farmers to the produce to market requirement and increased investment in infrastructure as well as increased road connectivity would help in boosting growth.

On the 10th plan, he said the mid-appraisal of the plan had shown that the indicated growth of 8.1 per cent had not been achieved due to various reasons.

However, the Indian economy was well within the capacity to achieve the eight percent growth today and the appraisal was aimed at ensuring it.

On the development of infrastructure, Ahluwalia said the introduction of new rail freight corridor initially from Mumbai to Delhi and Delhi to Kolkata would help in speed up the average speed of freight transport.

The current freight movement was greatly hampered due to the delays in passenger trains and 'un-uniform' speed depending on passage of passenger train. But all this would be eliminated through construction of an exclusive corridor.

A feasibility study on the same was expected to be completed by next year, he said.

Calling for involvement of private enterprise in the infrastructure sector, he said the BOT system would help in constructing roads and letting the expenditure be covered through the toll system.

The preparation of a model concession agreement, which is being discussed, would enable potential investors to start bidding on road projects.

This year 30 BOT projects have been planed, 18 already been awarded and the remaining 12 were expected to be awarded by the end of the year.

However, in all these projects it was essential to get the terms of contract right, he cautioned.

On airports, he said modernisation of the Mumbai and Delhi airports were major projects. The last stages of the final drafting are being sorted out.

Invitation for the financial bids was expected soon and projects to be awarded by the end of October. The airports were only expected to become operational by 2009.

On central aid for building of infrastructure in metros, he said that each city would have to find ways to fund its infrastructure, if it wishes to enjoy the benefits.