"Outlook in infrastructure will depend on how investment in infrastructure is facilitated," said the Survey tabled in the Parliament.

It, however, noted that infrastructure - for years perceived as a constraint on growth -- was showing signs of progress in areas such as power, roads, ports and airports.

The overall index of six core industries having a direct bearing on infrastructure and accounting for 27 per cent of weight in the Index of Industrial Production, registered a growth of 8.3 per cent during April-December, 2006, which was higher than the 5.5 per cent registered a year ago.

The Survey, which is supposed to be an indicator of the economy's progress, said that an investment of Rs 14,50,000 crore ($320 billion) would be required in the core sector during the 11th Five Year Plan.

Investment in infrastructure required long-term funds with long payback periods, possible if insurance and pension funds were utilised.

"Thus, success on the infrastructure front will be facilitated by the development of a vibrant bond market, and pension and insurance reforms," the pre-Budget Survey said.

"A single, unified exchange-traded market for corporate bonds would help create a mature debt market for financing infrastructure."

The Committee on Infrastructure, headed by the Prime Minister, has projected Rs 2,20,000 crore (Rs 2200 billion) fund requirement for modernising and upgrading highways, Rs 40,000 crore (Rs 400 billion) for civil aviation, Rs 50,000 crore (Rs 500 billion) for ports and Rs 3,00,000 crore (Rs 3000 billion) for the railways by 2012.

"Short-term problems, however, are unlikely to disappear rapidly without resolute action," the Survey said, adding that provision of quality and efficient infrastructure services is essential to realise the full potential of the growth impulses surging through the economy.

In power, enough generation capacity will get added to wipe out the shortages only over the medium term. "Improving the short-term power outlook will critically depend on how fast success in slashing transmission and distribution losses from near 40 per cent to 15 per cent is achieved," the Survey said.

Lauding the turnaround of the railways, it said: "Given the will, the leakages in the power sector can also be plugged."

It said the progress on the road and highways front would depend on how rapidly constraints such as delays in land acquisition, removal of structure and shifting of utilities, law and order problem in some states, and poor performance of some contractors are removed.

For urban infrastructure, the Survey called for omprehensive planning and effective monitoring. "Outlook on urban infrastructure will depend critically on how fast the finances and functional efficiency of urban local bodies are improved."

In the first nine months of 2006-07, crude petroleum, refinery products and electricity generation registered an acceleration in their growth rates, but there was a decline in the growth rates of coal, cement and finished steel.

"Provision of quality and efficient infrastructure services is essential to realise the full potential of the growth impulses surging through the economy," the Survey said.

"There is now a widespread consensus that exclusive dependence on government for the provision of all infrastructure services introduces difficulties concerning adequate scale of investment, technical efficiency, proper enforcement of user charges and competitive market structure."

At the same time, complete reliance on private production, particularly without appropriate regulation, is also not likely to produce optimal outcome, it said.

"India while stepping up public investment in infrastructure, has been actively engaged in finding the appropriate policy framework, which gives the private sector adequate confidence and incentives to invest on a massive scale, but simultaneously preserves adequate checks and balance through transparency, competition and regulation," it said.

The pre-Budget document said the drumbeats of infrastructure are gradually getting louder and in the next few years their rumble will be felt all over the country.

"There exists strong, well recognised linkages between infrastructure on the one hand and economic growth and poverty alleviation on the other.

"Not only will infrastructure give a fillip to economic growth, but robust economic growth, in turn, by enhancing willingness to pay appropriate user charges, will promote investment in infrastructure," it said.