New Delhi The Planning Commission has asked infrastructure ministries to try to achieve higher targets in 2011-12 than what they did in each of the first four years of the Eleventh Five-Year Plan.

The panel, which is tasked with the responsibility to fix annual milestones for the infrastructure sector, has set higher targets for power, road, shipping and railway ministries for the current finan

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh last week asked road transport and highways minister CP Joshi to expedite award of highway projects to achieve the 20-km-a-day road construction target as soon as possible. However, Joshi is reported to have said the target would be met only by 2014.

New Delhi Road minister CP Joshi said on Thursday that the target of building 20 km national highways a day would become a reality only by 2014. Joshi disclosed this a day after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh asked the road ministry to remove all bottlenecks to achieve that goal.

The 20-km milestone was set by Joshi's predecessor Kamal Nath in 2009.

New Delhi Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will meet road transport and highway minister CP Joshi on Wednesday as the economist turned head-of-state makes a first-hand assessment of the pace of the nation's infrastructure development.

After assuming charge of the ministry in January this year, Joshi had said his main focus would be on quality of construction and not quantity.

New Delhi The Planning Commission has decided to appoint consultants to ensure that draft concession agreements on national highway projects are technically sound.

In a bid to introduce greater transparency in the road sector, the transport ministry on Tuesday said it has fixed the monthly monitorable targets for road building and will bid out all projects beginning August through the e-tendering process.

Moots cell on land economics to put scarce resources to best use & create efficient cities
The government wants to frame principles for land use in urban India to help cities and towns cope with the pressures of growth and migration.

Meticulous C P Joshi is triggering comparisons with his predecessor, Kamal Nath, a man of the world.
Early morning last Friday, in a post timed at 7.44 am, one Ramesh Jain wrote a rant against overloading.

New Delhi After the deadly earthquake and a following tsunami in Japan caused a damage of $309 billion, India has started work on rules that will make it mandatory for at least 13 major ports to have insurance.

After a consultation process spanning over two years ended in a deadlock with car manufacturers, the government has finally decided to frame auto fuel efficiency norms within this month and put them out for public objections and comments in May.

Over the last one year, the government and the car manufacturers have been trying to reach an agreement over a number of aspects like proposed carbon d