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Several Infrastructure Sectors posted double digit growth during the year 2004-05, among which Telecom, Civil Aviation and Roads showed significant growth. In Telecom, addition in switching capacity alone posted a near 50 per cent increase while cell-phone connections went up by 10.4 per cent. The switching capacity rose from 4482000.63 lines to 6714000.15 lines. Cell-phone connections went up from 13466000.77 to 14871000.54, compared with the previous year. However, land-line connections showed a negative growth of 17.07 per cent due to surrender and preference for cell-phone. This information is revealed in a report issued by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation after reviewing the performance of the Infrastructure Sector during the financial year 2004-05.
In Civil Aviation, all the four segments posted phenomenal growth i.e. Import Cargo Handled rose by 24.4. per cent i.e. from 221734 to 275940 metric tonnes. Export Cargo handled went up by 12.6 per cent i.e. from 387148 to 435982 metric tonnes. Passengers handled at domestic terminals rose by 23.6 per cent i.e. from 192.65 to 238.08 lakhs, while passenger handling at international terminals went up by 14 per cent from 130.98 to 149.27 lakhs.
In case of Roads, upgradation of highways shot up by 16.1 per cent from 5955 to 6913 Kms. However, construction of bridges and maintenance of highways etc. continued to show negative trend throughout the year. Cargo Handling at major ports continued its significant growth during the year registering 11.3 per cent increase i.e. 344.80 to 383.77 million tonnes. In Railways also Revenue Earning Freight Traffic continued its upward trend with 8 per cent growth i.e. from 557.39 to 601.89 million tonnes.
Petroleum only registered 1.8 per cent growth in crude oil production while 4.3 per cent growth in refinery production. Other sectors like Power, Coal, Cement, Fertilizers etc. recorded a growth between above 5 per cent and 7.5 per cent. Steel remained low with a growth of 3.8 per cent during the year under review.
VKS/SR
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