In order to give a push to economic activity, the government on Saturday constituted the Cabinet Committee on Infrastructure (CCI) to fast-track the implementation of the infrastructure sector projects and monitor their performance.

The 12-member committee will be headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

"The constitution of the high-powered Committee comes in the wake of government's focus on infrastructure which has been identified as a key priority area," an official release said.

The functions of the Cabinet Committee on Infrastructure will be to consider and take decisions in respect of all infrastructure related proposals costing over Rs 150 crore specifically those concerning energy, railways, roads and national highways, ports, airports, telecommunications, Information Technology, irrigation, housing and urban development with particular emphasis on rural housing and urban slum clearance.

It will consider and decide measures such fiscal, financial, institutional and legal required to enhance investment in the sector, including grant of requisite approvals to facilitate private sector investment in specific projects and laying down annual parameters and targets for performance of all infrastructure sectors and review the progress of the projects.

Besides the Prime Minister, Union Ministers Pranab Mukherjee, Sharad Pawar, Mamata Banerjee, Sushil Kumar Shinde, Farooq Abdullah, Jaipal Reddy, Kamal Nath, A Raja, C P Joshi, Selja, G K Vasan, Pawan Kumar Bansal are the members of the committee.

Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission, Prithviraj Chavan and Praful Patel will be the special invitees to the committee.