India seeks to attract private players for mega infrastructure project

New Delhi [India], November 3 (ANI): Prioritising the development of quality infrastructure in the country, the Indian government seeks to establish a world-class infrastructure under the National Infrastructure Pipeline (NIP) for citizens, the first of its kind, reported Saudi Gazette.
In an effort to bring about a paradigm shift in the infrastructure field, the government aims to invite private players to invest in various sectors of the country, according to the newspaper.
The aim of the NIP of Fiscal Year 2019-25 is to improve the preparation of the project and attract investments into the infrastructure.
A task force was set up to analyse deeply the possibility to plan the infrastructure of this nature and scale. Following the recommendations and observations submitted last year, the mega project was launched, according to the newspaper.
According to the task force, the potential in the scheme of this nature was “massive” with a keen focus on energy, roads, railways and urban projects.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the launch of the USD1.5 trillion NIP scheme on the occasion of India’s 75th Independence Day after the generation of a positive response among the stakeholders.
The scheme is expected to attract huge foreign investment.
Strong infrastructure growth is “inevitable” for India if the country wishes to achieve its ambitious goal to be a USD5 trillion economy by 2025. The government of India has planned to raise Rs 6 lakh crore through the monetisation of assets over the coming four years, reported the newspaper.
This scheme envisages that the monetisation would also involve assets like roads and railways, which is a bold step.
Maximum monetisation is expected from the road sector that tops at Rs 1.6 lakh crore.
In contradiction to the allegations by the opposition parties, the highways are not to be transferred to the private players in perpetuity, as per the Saudi Gazette.
The idea behind the scheme is to raise money by transferring the highways according to the Build-Operate-Transfer model, through which the assets would be given to the government after a decided period of time.
Such structured mechanisms are expected to enable public welfare and boost the employment and infrastructure in the country.
The success of the government’s initiative of “Make in India” largely depends on how strong the backbone of the country’s infrastructure is. (ANI)