Hand over ports, jetties to private players for revenue: Niti to Goa

Times of India | 3 weeks ago | 11-11-2022 | 01:43 pm

Hand over ports, jetties to private players for revenue: Niti to Goa

PANAJI: The Niti Aayog, which held a meeting for the state government, has identified steps that Goa needs to take to mobilise financial resources and drive sector specific growth. Among the various steps identified, Niti Aayog has recommended that Goa should monetise its road infrastructure, ports and jetties, sports complexes and public transport system. Niti Aayog member V K Saraswat on Wednesday asked the state government authorities, including chief minister Pramod Sawant to explore the concessionaire model instead of privatisation of stadiums, public transport, river navigation and healthcare using an operate, maintain and transfer system. While the deliberations are still in the initial phases, Niti Aayog, which is the Centre’s apex policy think-tank, has offered to assist the state with the implementation of the asset monetisation policy. “Deliberations and discussions took place on various topics, including sustainable tourism, asset monetisation and innovative approach to raise resources, infra development through Public-Private Partnership (PPP), endurance-based policy making,” said Sawant. Under the Union Budget 2021-22, the Centre has identified monetisation of assets as one of the three pillars for enhanced and sustainable infrastructure financing in the country. The Narendra Modi government has called for the preparation of a National Monetisation Pipeline and tasked the Niti Aayog with identifying existing government infrastructure that can be handed over to private players for a fixed period. “Asset monetisation is not just a financing mechanism, but a strategy for bringing a paradigm shift in infrastructure operations, augmentation and maintenance,” said the Niti Aayog document which has been presented to the state government. The Niti Aayog has said that key infrastructure in Goa can be handed to private players for a limited period to operate, collect fees, maintain and then hand over back to the state government. Handing over stadiums and district sports complexes to private players will enable development of world class infrastructure and increase the economic profile of the locality, said the Niti Aayog. The concession period can be for 30 years and the stadiums can be utilised for mixed use. The Niti Aayog has also recommended that ports, jetties, school education, public transport, affordable housing, super speciality hospitals, medical colleges, eco-tourism and sports infrastructure can also be opportunities for public-private partnership. Opening up of the state’s health care infrastructure through the PPP model will enable the government to modernise district hospitals with the option to develop medical college without the state spending any funds. Instead, there will be an “annual income by way of revenue share or concession fee,” said the Niti Aayog. The Niti Aayog team said that it is willing to work with the Goa government to identify projects for developing through PPP route.

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