PM calls for transparency in road projects

         New Delhi, Sep 12 (PTI) Indian Prime Minister Manmohan
 Singh on Monday called for transparency in awarding highway
 projects to eliminate the possibility of favouratism or crony
 capitalism.
        "It is necessary to demonstrate that the award,
 construction and operation of these (highways) projects is
 based on a fair and transparent approach which eliminates any
 suspicion of favouratism or what might be described as crony
 capitalism," he said at the conference of Public Private
 Partnership (PPP) in National Highways.
        He further said that for a large road building
 programme, "efficiency, economy, competition and transparency
 are vital touchstones that should be used for judging our
 level of success. These are especially important when we deal
 with the private sector.
        "We must remember that these are public projects where
 public interest must be foremost in our mind," he added.
        The government plans to double investment in
 infrastructure projects to USD 1 trillion to achieve a GDP
 growth rate of 9 per cent during the 12th Five-Year Plan
 (2012-17).
        "...it goes without saying that it seems a very
 challenging task, but I am convinced that our economy has the
 resilience to live up to challenges that lie ahead", he added.
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        The Prime Minister further said that the government has
 been successful in attracting large volumes of private
 investment in the road sector.
        Contract awards exceeded about 4,800 km in 2010-11, and
 the Road Transport and Highways Ministry is well poised to
 award of 7,300 km this year, to fulfil government's resolve to
 build 20 km a day, he said.
        The National Highways with a total length of over 71,000
 km serve as the arterial network of the country.
        However, the flagship National Highways Development
 Programme has only addressed about 25,000 km so far.
        In the recent meeting of the full Planning Commission,
 the government had endorsed the proposal of the Road Ministry
 to take up a large programme for developing the National
 Highways in far flung areas.
        At present, there are about 20,000 km of National
 Highways which have only a single lane.
        "A time-bound programme for widening these roads to
 two-lane standards would be taken up through turn-key
 contracts that would ensure speedy and cost-effective
 outcomes," the Prime Minister said asking the Ministry to
 accelerate this programme to increase the reach of the NHDP
 across the country.
        Talking about the financing constraints faced by
 infrastructure projects, Singh said the Finance Ministry is
 also taking the initiative to set up Infrastructure Debt Fund
 to enhance the flow of the much needed long-term debt in
 infrastructure projects.
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        Singh said financing an ambitious highways programme
 will no doubt require substantial resources and some parts of
 the network can only be developed through public investment.
        "There are, however, areas where private investment can
 be invited, based on affordable user charges with some capital
 subsidy as necessary," he adding, "I have often said PPP is
 private profit in service of public at large".
        He said the NHAI, which deals mostly with the roads that
 can attract private capital, has made PPP the preferred mode
 for most of its projects.
        PPP projects take much less time to complete and the
 government does not have to bear cost overruns, he said.
        "This will not only enable us to leverage our limited
 public resources but also improve efficiency of service
 delivery," Singh said.
        India has attained the second rank globally among
 developing countries in attracting private investment for
 infrastructure projects.
        Singh said that the government has been encouraging the
 use of standard documents and processes to streamline and
 expedite decision-making process by the concerned authorities
 in a manner that is fair, transparent and competitive.
        "This approach has contributed significantly to the
 recent strides in rolling out a large number of PPP projects
 in the highways sector," he said.
        He said that emphasis on transparency and competition in
 the award of PPP projects in the roads sector which has "led
 to a very robust and competitive bidding that has saved very
 large sums for the exchequer by limiting the capital subsidy
 or enhancing the revenue share". PTI CS
 AGL