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• After suffering a major setback last year due to policy delays, the infrastructure industry is expecting a marginal improvement in the situation this year, even as it continues to be sceptical about the outlook of the power sector.The slow growth in the infrastructure sector was primarily driven by a range of sector-specific issues, such as land acquisition, environmental clearances, high interest rate regime and macro-economic factors, say industry experts.While the performance of the roads sector was quite satisfactory, others including, ports, airports, railways and water saw a marginal improvement, they point out.

• The power sector continues to be hit the most due to several factors, including unavailability of funds, issues on coal linkages, high international fuel cost and uncertainty in government's policy about transfer of high tariff cost."Besides, availability of coal and its increasing prices, environmental clearances and land acquisition continue to be major challenges for this critical sector. Further, introduction of benchmark pricing norms for coal in Indonesia has upset the economics of several power projects based on imported coal," PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) executive director Jai Mavani told PTI here.

• "We don't see a major improvement in the sector even in this year although there are some green shoots in the form of the new Land Acquisition Bill and infrastructure debt fund," he says.Mavani further says lowering of capital costs particularly in solar equipment space has helped bridge the viability gaps in the renewable projects.Nearly 55 per cent of the country's installed power capacity is coal-based, a large chunk of that has to be imported due to the shortage in domestic production.Last year saw a considerable slowdown in the investment momentum, which was the fallout of deferred government decisions and projects that were scheduled to be commissioned were getting delayed.

• Experts, however, believe that 2012 will bring some good news for sectors like ports, airports and roads."The shipping ministry is expected to announce a few new projects, which will give a boost to the ports sector and we could see some investments coming in," Deloitte Senior Director Amrit Pandurangi said.On the airports sector, Pandurangi says he "expects some development in the Navi Mumbai airport project as well, which has been an attraction not only for the domestic but also international investors. Besides, the NHAI's road widening plans will see huge growth opportunity."

• Awarding of new infrastructure projects, such as urban public transport systems like metros, expressways, superior quality highways, flyovers, and world class airports will see an improvement in the order inflows, Supreme Infrastructure Director Vikas Sharma said.However, there is a need for some strong policy decisions to enable the sector to grow, he added."The infra sector is still in its nascent stage and a lot of development is required in logistics, ports, railways, road connectivity, communications and power. The year 2012 will be a tough year for the industry, where only government action on the policy front as well as softening of interest rates will be the saviours that could make it a better year," Sharma said.

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