The price of Mumbai’s first metro rail between Versova, Andheri and Ghatkopar, being constructed by Reliance Infrastructure-led Mumbai Metro One (MMOPL) has shot up by 84 per cent, reveal a information elicited under the Right to Information (RTI) Act.

To increase air connectivity to tier-II and tier-III cities in the country, the Union Government has decided to set up 50 new low-cost airports this year and 50 next year. The government is striving to achieve this within the deadline set up by the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

The Prime Minister Manmohan Singh headed Cabinet Committee on Investments is expected to speed up Rs 49,000 crore worth power plants of companies like Reliance Power and Essar Power, which have been stuck for want of environment and forest clearances at various levels. The panel will consider diversion of forest land for a coal block attached to Rs 20,852 crore Sasan ultra mega power project.

To reduce the current account deficit (CAD), the Union Oil Ministry has worked out a plan, which can save $22 billion in the oil import bill from Iran, said the Union Petroleum Minister M Veerappa Moily. The Minister said that import of oil is one of the components responsible for CAD. The Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has told the Ministry to save $25 billion in the import bill. And accordingly, the Ministry has prepared a plan to save $22 billion in import bill, Moily said.

The Union Oil Minister Marpadi Veerappa Moily on August 27 said that to reduce the current account deficit (CAD), the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has sought $25 billion cut in oil import bill. India is renewing imports of the fuel from Iran as unlike imports from other countries. It pays the Persian Gulf nation in rupees. India paid about $170 billion last fiscal for importing oil.

For cooperating in their road and transport sector, India and China are set to sign an agreement when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh visits Beijing in next October. Transport ministries of both countries have approved the details of the proposed agreement. Last year, India had reached out to Chinese infrastructure companies to invest in the road sector. Identified areas of cooperation include sharing best practices in road and bridge building technologies, policies, intelligent traffic system bes

The Union government on August 26 cleared Rs 1 lakh crore infrastructure projects which include projects under shipping and ports sector. The Prime Minister Manmohan Singh headed Cabinet Committee on Investment (CCI) has also asked the departments concerned to remove the bottlenecks for the projects within a month.

Communist Party of India (CPI) has demanded the Union government to revisit the Rangarajan price formula of natural gas produced by Reliance Industries (RIL) in KG-D6 block as the production cost for RIL is just Rs $2.74 a million Britiesh Thermal unit (mBtu). CPI added that the Rangarajan pricing formula of $8.4 an mBtu would give RIL a windfall gain. The Rangarajan formula is applicable from April 2014.

When Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh visits China in October next, India and China are set to sign an agreement for cooperation in the road and transport sector. The areas of cooperation have been identified and agreed by both the sides and these include sharing the best practices in road building technology and road safety related issues. China has made huge progress in building world class highways and over 60,000 km of expressways.