The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has come forward to help India to develop infrastructure projects with an aim to attract private sector investment through the modality of Public-Private Partnerships (PPP), stated in an ADB release. The development bank has already extended support to central and state governments of the country for various projects with capacity building in the area of PPPs.
"The Japan Special Fund, through ADB, will provide a $2 million technical assistance grant to help government agencies in India develop a number of pilot PPP projects which can eventually serve as models for future projects. All infrastructure sectors covered under this initiative include urban development, transport, water, health and education sectors," added in the release, which was sent to Newstrack India this evening.
Under the technical assistance, 'project development' entails all aspects of project structuring including institutional, financial, commercial, legal, social, environmental, and technical structuring leading to a competitive bid process to attract private sector participation, it elaborated.
According to the Planning Commission of India, the current infrastructure deficit requires a massive ramp up in infrastructure spending to 8% of gross domestic product from the current 4.7% in order to meet India's growth and poverty alleviation targets. India needs around $500 billion in infrastructure investment funds between 2007 and 2012 – an amount too large to be met by the public sector alone.
The technical assistance by ADB is complemented by the India Infrastructure Project Development Fund (IIPDF), a facility of the Indian Government. The ADB continued supporting India's plan to bring in more public-private partnerships through two advisory technical assistance grants. The Indian government is supposed to provide $5.7 million equivalent from its IIPDF on a project-by-project basis. The project sponsor agencies will contribute $500,000 to cover project-specific office facilities, administrative support, and workshop facilitation.
New Delhi has already identified a number of potential projects for selection as pilot projects with help from the ADB-assisted PPP cells already established at state governments and central line ministries. More over, the ADB's experience in the infrastructure sectors, institutional and financial reforms, and innovative financial products is expected to promote the PPP modality in India.
Quoting Anouj Mehta, Senior Infrastructure Finance Specialist (PPPs) at ADB's Indian Resident Mission, the release concluded, "The ADB-IIPDF partnership will play a crucial role in actually demonstrating the benefits of PPPs through setting forth replicable PPP models with well-balanced risk and bankability structures. These should catalyze much needed private sector capital and efficiencies along with competitive commercial co-financing into the infrastructure sectors and eventually help promote equitable outreach of infrastructure services to the common man."
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