The Centre has set up a committee under the Chairmanship of former Finance Secretary Vijay Kelkar to revisit and revitalize the public private partnership (PPP) model of infrastructure development.

This committee has been asked to submit its report in three months.

The terms of reference of the committee are review of the experience of PPP policy, including the variations in contents of contracts and difficulties experienced with particular conditions, if any; Analysis of risks involved in PPP projects in different sectors and existing framework of sharing such risks between the project developer and the Government, thereby suggesting optimal risk sharing mechanism.

This committee has also been asked to propose design modifications in the contractual arrangements of the PPP based on international best practices and Indian institutional context.

The Panel will also be required to improve capacity building in Government for effective implementation of the PPP projects.

Besides Kelkar, this committee has nine members and a Member Secretary in Sharmila Chavali, Joint Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs in Finance Ministry.

The nine members include C.S. Rajan, Chief Secretary, Government of Rajasthan; S.B.Nayar, Chairman and Managing Director, IIFCL; Shekhar Shah, Director General, NCAER; Pradeep Kumar, Managing Director, State Bank of India; Vikram Limaye, Managing Director, IDFC; Sudipto Sarkar, Barrister-at-law, Kolkata and representatives of Ministry of Road Transport & Highways.

The Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had in his recent budget speech announced that the PPP mode of infrastructure development has to be revisited, and revitalised, in which the major issue involved is rebalancing of risk.

In pursuance of this announcement, a committee has now been constituted.

srivats.kr@thehindu.co.in

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