Need PPP in JNNURM: Pranab Mukherjee

Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Friday said that the government needs to urgently look for possibilities of Public Private Partnership (PPP) to sustain its urban infrastructure renewal drive.

He asked the state governments to provide enabling environments for the public sector to participate in the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM).

The Finance Minister was speaking at a function organised here Friday to mark the fifth anniversary of the launch of the program.

Mukherjee said that the mindsets of the people running and availaling the projects should be altered. The Government is not some ephemeral cosmic body, which is a source of endless funds should be made clear, he said.

He also called on the public to be ready to pay up for availing improved services.

Launched by Government of India in Dec. 2005, the massive city modernisation scheme is a seven year project that plans to spend USD 20 billion over a period of seven years with a number of infrastructure programs.