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All the eleven sectors of Infrastructure posted higher growth during the first 10 months of the current financial year. Telecom, Civil Aviation, Road and Shipping registered a double digit growth, with Telecom netting the highest increase. This is stated in the latest Review Report of the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation on the performance of the Infrastructure Sectors between April 2004 to January 2005.
In Telecom, addition in switching capacity increased by nearly 34 per cent to 4942000 lines, while cell phone connections rose by over 17 per cent to 12496000. Landline connections showed a negative trend due to surrender and preference for cell phones. In Civil Aviation, Import Cargo Handling enhanced by 28.6 per cent to 230189 metric tonnes, followed by a 25.3 per cent hike in passenger handling at domestic terminals i.e. 198.31 lakhs. Passenger handling at international terminals went up by 15.6 per cent i.e. 123.34 lakhs and Export Cargo Handling by 4.4. per cent to 357909 metric tonnes.
In the Road Sector, upgradation of highways went up by 19 per cent to 5244 kms. and in Shipping and Port Sector, cargo handling at major ports also posted a double digit growth of nearly 11 per cent at 311.56 million tonnes, during the period under review.
Among the other sectors, Fertilizers recorded a growth of 8.3 per cent with the production level going up to 13.05 million tonnes, followed by Revenue Earning Rail Freight Traffic 7.8 per cent handling 491.76 million tonnes of goods. Coal posted a growth of 6.3 per cent at 302.27 million tonnes followed by Power with a 6 per cent growth at 488.46 billion units. Production of Cement totalled 108.05 million tonnes registering a growth of 7.1 per cent and Petroleum reporting a growth of 5.9 per cent in Refining at 106.02 million tonnes and Crude Oil production by 2.6 per cent at 28.47 million tonnes. Steel recorded a growth of 3.4 per cent with production going up to 32.77 million tonnes.
In toto, all the Infrastructure Sectors recorded higher and positive growth during the first 10 months of the current financial year in comparison with the same period of the previous fiscal.
VKS/SR
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