MoD committee to push capital projects of Rs 500 crore

By Ajai Shukla

Business Standard, 8th February 18

Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has constituted a 13 member committee that will review ongoing capital acquisition projects worth more than Rs 500 crore, and suggest ways of taking them towards fruition.

Given the title of Raksha Mantri’s Advisory Committee on Ministry of Defence (MoD) Capital Projects – abbreviated to RMCOMP – the body is required to “expedite capital acquisitions to bolster armed forces preparedness”, the defence ministry announced today.

The 13-member committee will be chaired by Vinay Sheel Oberoi, who retired earlier this year as secretary for higher education in the Human Resource Development ministry.

Its members include former Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd chairman, RK Tyagi, defence accounts secretary, Sanhita Kar, Rear Admiral (Retired) Sudhir Pillai and representatives from each of the three services.

The committee is charged with: “Independent review and status check” of ongoing critical capital projects above Rs. 500 crore, assessing their “physical and financial progress” and identifying “specific bottlenecks and concerns that are responsible for delays”, and suggesting the way forward.

The RMCOMP’s ambit will include multiple categories of procurements under the Defence Procurement Procedure, include ‘Mission Mode’ projects, ‘Make’ projects as well as ‘Design and Development’ projects under the Ministry. 

The RCOMP will have an initial tenure until the end of August 2018.

It is required to present an initial status report on identified projects to the defence minister by 31st March 2018. It also mandated to present “remedial measures and follow-up strategy.”

Based on the ministry’s decisions on the status report, the RCOMP must submit two follow-up corrective Action Taken Reports by 30th April 2018 and 31st July 2018.