The government proposes to introduce wide-ranging measures to facilitate investment approval and implementation of projects in the Budget this year.

Among the slew of measures being considered are setting up of a project appraisal unit and re-engineering groups in select ministries and departments to rework regulatory processes to ensure speedy clearance for private sector projects and timely execution of government projects.

Based on the recommendations of a high-level committee set up to simplify procedures for investment approval and implementation of projects, the Centre is likely to lay down sector-wise project-acceptance criteria and specify a timeframe for each stage of processing.

The criteria will be prescribed by the department of expenditure under the ministry of finance.

The norms are expected to be finalised by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, after a presentation of the committee's report is made to the prime minister soon.

The aim of the entire exercise will be to consolidate laws, simplify procedures, prescribe time limits and develop trigger mechanisms for cases involving delays.

The re-engineering groups, headed by the respective secretaries of the departments and ministries, would be required to complete re-engineering of processes within six months and review the existing laws within a year, said government sources.

In turn, the committee of secretaries will submit monthly reviews to the Cabinet Committee on Economic Reforms.

Each approval requirement was to be examined and re-engineered to encourage self-regulation and grant automatic approval upon filing documents, said government sources.

The extent of details to be presented along with each application would be specified, and defined time limits for each stage of processing would be laid down, they added.

The Cabinet secretariat has already directed 21 ministries and departments to initiate action on simplifying project implementation.

Progress is to be reviewed in mid-February.

Some simplification measures have already been identified. These include increasing the validity of licensing and decreasing the periodicity of filing returns under the Explosive Rules.

Activities having minimal third-party impacts are to be put under self-regulation, and approval of building and plant design are to be outsourced under the Explosive Rules.

Fourteen registers are to be merged into four and another eight are to be abolished in the Salt Organisation.

In the previous count, 96 government projects were suffering time and cost overruns. Among the major bottlenecks in implementation and operation of projects are cumbersome procedures prescribed under various laws and regulations.

These, coupled with lack of information on procedural requirements and lack of transparency in administration of approvals, add to the time and cost factors.

The multiplicity of agencies responsible for grant of approvals, the regulatory framework and ground-level hassles during operations also add to the burden.

For instance, a medium-sized company is required to file 42 different types of returns and registers, in addition to dealing with provisions under 25 laws on labour-related issues.

Run-up to the Budget 2003