New Delhi, May 17: The Planning Commission has set targets for key infrastructure segments such as roads, railways and power to speed up their development.

It has also put in place a system of quarterly monitoring by the Prime Minister and cabinet committee on infrastructure.

“We will report (the progress) to the cabinet committee on infrastructure so that the government can take a decision on the implementation of the projects,” Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia said.

The targets for 2010-11 announced by Ahluwalia include additional power generation of 20,359MW, development of 2,500km of highways and 1,019km of rail lines.

During 2009-10, the performance in these segments were below targets: against a target of 14,507MW in power, actual capacity addition was 9,585MW; it was 2,008km for highways against the target of 3,165km.

Similarly, the railways added only 85km of lines during April-December 2009 against the full year target of 250km.

The plan panel expects an investment of Rs 2,635 crore in civil aviation.

The Mumbai airport, being developed by GVK, has plans to invest Rs 2,280 crore in 2010-11 against Rs 1,306 crore spent last year.

Three major airports—New Delhi, Hyderabad and Bangalore — will see an investment of Rs 355 crore in the current fiscal.

Railways will add about 18,000 wagons, 4,000 coaches and 1,019km of new lines.

While setting targets can help the government monitor progress, they are not enough to solve the acute financing constraints plaguing infrastructure.

The plan panel intends to set up a $11-billion infrastructure debt fund to tap international and domestic insurance and pension funds. Multilateral institutions such as the World Bank and the IMF will also be approached.