FM Pranab Mukherjee pitches for more PPPs

Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Wednesday said that public private partnerships (PPPs) with appropriate safeguards, would help to both accelerate inclusive growth and avoid the risk of over-commitment.

Mukherjee said that PPP models are important instruments to deliver high-quality infrastructure services to citizens.

He stressed on the need to achieve a more even-spread of PPP action, especially at the state and local levels of government, facing enormous infrastructure constraints.

He was speaking at the India Public Private Partnership Conclave organised by the Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, Government of India, in collaboration with Asian Development Bank and the World Bank.

The objective of the Conclave was to take stock of the developments in the PPPs space so far and set course for the future to achieve the targets of twelfth five-year plan.

Mentioning that both the Planning Commission and the Ministry of Finance are making efforts to develop a variety of models as guidance material for PPPs, Mukherjee expressed hope that these models would help public sector functionaries and agencies who may not be fully conversant with the concept of PPP.