PPP projects in airports & ports gather momentum
The sources said the Jawahar Nehru Urban Renewal Mission for spurring investments in urban infrastructure could also see PPP model fructifying in a big way.
By TNN |
NEW DELHI: Public-private-partnership (PPP) projects, that have been languishing in most infrastructure sectors despite supportive tools like viability gap funding (VGF), are likely to gather fresh momentum in the current fiscal which could be sustained next year also, thanks to speeding up of approvals for NHDP projects, concrete plans to set up 18 new port terminals and projects being lined up for city-side development of 24 airports, as per finance ministry sources.
The sources said the Jawahar Nehru Urban Renewal Mission for spurring investments in urban infrastructure could also see PPP model fructifying in a big way. If NHAI complies with the North Block directive to design larger projects involving road stretch of at least 100 km, the current problem in attracting FDI could be surmounted, they say.
In Budget 2007-08, finance minister P Chidambaram had said the PPP model had not acquired the pace it should have. There has virtually been no major disbursement under VGF. Many proposals have been vetted by the designated agencies but on the ground there has been comparatively less activity due to a slowdown in the NH sector.
The finance ministry is set to issue new guidelines for getting PPP projects approved. Although the idea is to ease the procedures and expedite the process, there are apprehensions over whether the new mechanism would help achieve the objectives.
In fact, the Cabinet had approved a diluted version of what the ministry had proposed in this regard. While the ministry’s proposal was to do away with the requirement of Cabinet approval for projects below Rs 500 crore for road projects and Rs 250 crore for other sectors, what has been approved is just waiving the PPP-appraisal committee’s scrutiny for such projects.
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These projects would require the assent of two new committees comprising two members each—finance secretary and secretary of the administrative ministry concerned for all projects except roads and finance secretary and secretary, ministry of road transport and highways for road projects. This process, sources say, would be easier than the earlier one—the PPP-AC—which has much wider representation. Even the Planning Commission require to meet to clear the projects while the two member committees would clear the projects sans sittings. Lack of unanimity among PPP-AC members and the delay in decision-making have been allegedly holding back approvals.
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