Panel to review railway board’s PPP cell
Committee to be headed by Ajay Shankar, former secretary of the department of industrial policy and promotion
New Delhi: The ministry of railways has constituted a committee to review the existing Public Private Partnership (PPP) Cell in the railway board on Wednesday.
The move is in line with the promise that railways minister Suresh Prabhu made during the presentation of the rail budget on 26 February.
“We will revamp the existing PPP cell in the ministry to make it more result oriented. PPP will help in creating more jobs in the economy besides augmenting capital for improving railways," Prabhu had said in his budget speech.
The committee will be headed by Ajay Shankar, former secretary, department of industrial policy and promotion.
“The committee will recommend measures needed to make the cell more effective, customer friendly and result oriented," said a press release issued by the railways ministry. The release added that executive director, PPP, Railway Board, will be the secretary to the committee.
Speaking at an event on Wednesday, Prabhu said private investment was necessary for reinforcing infrastructure.
Prabhu added that a proper policy and regulatory framework was required to address the trade-off between the interests of the public and private sector.
“We need to first of all create a proper policy framework which India has learnt over a period of time. Because this was a major public-private initiative we did in the world so we have learnt quite a few lessons," Prabhu said. “Other is the institution—that I think is the regulatory framework."
Railways has traditionally been unsuccessful at mobilizing private investment. Its past efforts to attract private investment have not been very fruitful.
Prabhu in his budget unveiled a plan to invest ₹ 8.5 trillion in the railways over the next five years, with a focus on capacity augmentation and modernization. The government hopes to channelize PPP for largely improving its freight business and investment in its infrastructure. In a bid to encourage private-sector participation in railways, Prabhu had announced measures such as setting up an independent regulator and a transport logistics corporation among others in the railway budget in addition to the revamp of the PPP mechanism.
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