NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ambitious plan to build I-ways to digitally empower people is floundering, with the government meeting just about 12% of its 2014-15 target to connect 50,000 villages through a national optic fibre network by the end of January.The government has, however, delivered significantly improved outcomes across the power sector and in the award of new highway and port projects, which officials attributed to the Prime Minister’s persistent and rigorous monitoring of performance on the infrastructure sectors.The BJP had promised to scale up infrastructure building in its electoral campaign and Modi had pledged to build I-ways and highways in his Independence Day address, days after he had set well-defined targets for ministries in charge of physical connectivity (ports, airports, railways, roads), digital connectivity (telecom) and energy (power and renewable energy ministries).Last Monday, the Prime Minister was briefed by top Niti Aayog officials on the hits and misses in the various infrastructure sectors. This was the fifth such evaluation of core sector performance by the Prime Minister in eight months.The top areas of concern that emerged during the latest review include the 1,800-km Western Dedicated Freight Corridor, the commissioning date of which has slipped by another year from December 2018 to December 2019, and further delays in four public sector energy projects of about 1,900 MW, including the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant.At a previous review meeting on December 19, Modi had expressed concerns about 620-odd central sector projects worth lakhs of crores of rupees running behind schedule.“The PM had instructed all ministries to review these projects and come up with an action plan. Cabinet Secretary Ajit Seth is reviewing these separately,” said a senior government official.During the February 9 review meeting, the Prime Minister was informed that nearly 500 of those delayed projects have been reviewed, of which 278 are railway projects. The Railway Board chairman has been asked to identify top priority projects that can be hastened.On the bright side, the Prime Minister was told that the first semi-high speed train from Delhi to Agra is likely to begin by the end of this month and train services to Arunachal Pradesh are ready to start.Strategic rail projects to ferry millions of tonnes of coal from the hinterland are likely to be ready in Odisha and Chhattisgarh by June-September 2016. However, two similar lines for untapped coal mines in Jharkhand have slipped behind schedule. Together, these rail lines are expected to evacuate 250 million tonnes of coal annually.The redevelopment of railway stations and introducing public private partnerships (PPPs) in operations and maintenance of Ahmedabad, Kolkata, Chennai and Jaipur airports are also behind schedule as per the latest review.Idukki in Kerala has become the first district with gram panchayats fully linked to the national optic fibre network or NOFN, while optic fibre cables have been laid in 6,000 gram panchayat (GP) areas. An expert committee has been formed to review the NOFN rollout strategy, as connectivity to 50,000 GPs in the remaining weeks of this financial year appears a tall order.Mobile connectivity plans for areas affected by left-wing extremism and uncovered Himalayan villages, initiated by the government, have delivered mixed results so far.While 105 of the 500 telecom towers have been commissioned in Naxal-affected districts, project reports for 954 towers to cover 4,752 villages in Himachal Pradesh, Jammu Kashmir and Uttarakhand are running behind schedule.The highways sector, which had been the worst performer in recent years as developers abandoned projects and sought renegotiations, is seeing a turnaround of sorts.The road ministry awarded new projects to build 5,385 km of highways by January 31, a little over 60% of its 8,500 km target for the year, but already 70% more than the 3,100-odd km awarded in 2013-14.But the inability to complete ongoing road projects fast enough--just 48% of the 6,300 km target has been met--is a worry for industry experts.“With industry having little room for new PPP projects, the government’s move to build roads through old-fashioned EPC contracts is smart. However, slow completion of older projects remains a matter of concern,” said Vinayak Chatterjee, chairman of Feedback Infra.The power sector appears back on track, with around 80% of targets for capacity addition and new transmission lines being met by January (see chart). On the NDA’s promise to provide 24x7 power by 2022, Niti Aayog officials said that state-specific action plans are in place for Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan and will be ready for all other states in 2015-16.Chatterjee said that while the power sector’s performance is heartening, new capacity additions are coming from the incomplete projects of the UPA era.“It’s good that the problems facing these projects like fuel supplies are being unwound, but I am worried that not a single new project has been announced in this year for conventional thermal or gas-based power,” he said, adding that power projects typically take four years to complete and there is no pipeline of projects that could come on stream from 2017-18.