Source: The Sangai Express / Manipur Information Centre
New Delhi, July 24:
The Planning Commission organized a one-day workshop of State Chief Secretaries on Public Private Partnership (PPP) on July 21 at Vigyan Bhavan here with Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram as chief guest and the Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia as president.
The Joint Resident Commissioner of Manipur Bhavan, New Delhi M Lakshmikumar Singh and Joint Director of Planning, Government of Manipur Th Munindro Singh representing Manipur attended the workshop.
In the workshop, the Union Finance Minister urged the States to prepare projects for strengthening infrastructure on PPP model.
He also stated that the State governments should encourage investment of the private sectors for infrastructure development of the States.
During the workshop, the Guidelines for Public Private Partnerships published by the Planning Commission were distributed.
The Guideline pointed out, "One of the key factors that determines the success of a PPP project is the criteria for selection of the project sponsor, especially as such projects typically involve large capital investments for providing essential infrastructure services to users on a long-term basis".
"The justification for promoting PPP in infrastructure lies in its potential to improve the quality of service with lower costs, besides attracting private capital to fund public projects", it further added.
The PPP is a system in which a project or business venture is funded and operated through a partnership of government and one or more private sector companies.
The Centre took several initiatives during the past few years to promote PPPs in infrastructure sectors like power, ports, highways, airports, tourism and urban infrastructure.