Infrastructure summit held

Public-private participation (PPP) formed the focus of the Essar Steel Infrastructure Conclave 2009 held in Mumbai recently, a precursor to Infrastructure Excellence Awards 2009.

Among the several speakers were Dr Kirit Parekh, member of the Planning Commission; Parvez Umrigar, MD, Gammon Infrastructure Projects Ltd; Robin Banerjee, CFO, Essar Steel Holdings, Ajoy Mehta, MD, Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Co. Ltd, and Ravi Uppal, MD and CEO, L&T Power.

The experts debated the role and the challenges surrounding public-private participation in India and pointed out that much more was required to develop infrastructure as a first step towards kick-starting the economy.

As Dr Kirit Parikh pointed out "There is a lot of work to be done which is not possible for the government alone. Seven or eight years ago, a huge network was planned, but this was left halfway.

There was some work on waterways but not enough. There is a lot to be done for ports and airports, and much more to be done on unconventional energy sources."

Dr Parikh gave the example how telephone connectivity is no longer a concern simply because private players could come in."We need to worry about urban infrastructure," Dr Parikh said, adding, "Every time we come to Mumbai, it takes five to 10 minutes longer; it is almost becoming non-functional."

Manish Aggarwal of KPMG spoke of urban infrastructure having "huge potential, huge requirement, and significant opportunity", also pointing out constraints like time frame and long gestation period; land acquisition issues, permits, environmental clearance, rehabilitation and so on.

As for pricing, companies would need to work backwards to see how much the market could bear in terms of user charges.

Speakers also referred to the "politics of foresight" and the "politics of hindsight". "You just can't keep debating projects day in and day out. There can never be a perfect solution." As Mr Umrigar explained, "The need is to be decisive and move forward without wasting time".