The Meghalaya cabinet today approved a policy to govern the way the state undertakes Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) in the future.
Currently, Meghalaya is behind the national average using a range of metrics – from road density (47.8km per 100km compared to 180km nationally) and electricity consumption (880kWh per capita per annum compared to 1200kWh).
“To achieve the vision of being among the top 10 Indian states within the next 10 years, it would be required to not just [close] these gaps but surpass the national average on many counts,” a press note said today.
This would require massive investment, which the government estimates at around Rs 25,000 crore over the next 10 years. This is in excess of the state’s annual budget of Rs 17,000 crore, of which only Rs 3,000 crore is allocated to development.
“A state Public Private Partnership policy would help us leverage investments along with sector specific expertise from the private sector,” the note said.
The kinds of PPPs that would be supported by the policy include large-scale ones (above Rs 10 crore) and community infrastructure projects of under Rs 10 crore where the community will be actively involved and contribute through the entire process. The community will not only provide the land, but their consent would also be taken at critical junctures. At the end of the project cycle, the assets along with the land would be passed back to the community.
The role of the state government would be to be involved throughout the project’s lifecycle as facilitator and enabler, while the private sector partner will assume the role of financier, builder and operator. The government will also act to safeguard the interests of the community and set up a dispute redressal mechanism.
It has been proposed that an ’empowered group of ministers’ will be headed by the Chief Minister to approve projects greater than Rs 50 crore, while the Chief Secretary will lead an ’empowered committee on infrastructure’ for projects up to Rs 50 crore.
A state PPP cell, headed by a senior Secretary from the Planning Department, shall be set up as the nodal agency. It would be housed within the Meghalaya Infrastructure Development Finance Corporation (MIDFC) under the Planning Department.
“All provisions related to the Meghalaya Land Transfer Act, 1971 will be applicable to ensure that the rights of the communities/individuals are protected,” the government said.
