Karnataka’s PPP report card: 2/127. Remark: Miles to go

Karnataka’s PPP report card: 2/127. Remark: Miles to go
S Kushala & Anil Kumar M | TNN

Bangalore: Project: The Rs 40,000-crore Bidadi integrated township. In the pipeline for over five years, on paper for over three. Public-Private Partnership (PPP) venture awarded to a New Delhibased construction major with government’s contribution being land, potable water and electricity.
Status: Official: land-acquisition notification and agreement with the private player is yet to be executed. Unofficial: Stuck due to politicking with a possible rethink on the private partner as the company had been chosen by the previous government.
The township project typifies the state of PPP projects in Karnataka. Given the crying need for infrastructure, successive state governments have announced a slew of PPP projects to jump-start sectors ranging from transport to tourism, roads to airports. In all, 127 mega projects are to be implemented under this scheme. The latest to be placed on the PPP platter is the much-hyped Rs 5,200-crore high-speed rail link to Bengaluru International Airport (BIA), which is at the tendering stage.
Ironically, barring the much-maligned Bengaluru International Airport project, the Bangalore-Mysore highway and a few minor airports — where work is in progress— others are mere files gathering dust at bureaucrats’ tables.
Under the PPP, the government has offered projects relating to power, urban infrastructure, tourism, health, hospitality, road development, airports, port development, transport, solid waste management, water supply, sanitation and even commercial complexes to private players.
At a combined investment of Rs 75,000 crore, these could change the face of Karnataka if executed well and on time. Sadly, they are not. It isn’t the global economic meltdown that is to blame. A maze of rules is holding up these projects.
TIMES VIEW
PPP is a modern idea that takes the planning, implementation and operation of infrastructure services out of the exclusive domain of the public sector. This sharing model might be the path to development nirvana, but as seen in Karnataka its purpose seems to be defeated, thanks to the listless functioning of our administrative machinery. The political leadership gains its mileage from merely announcing a slew of projects, but the promises languish in cold storage. It’s time this practice changed. Modern states need proactivity. And a mechanism to audit policy and services. That might take long, but for now, Yeddyurappa’s government could show some purpose by putting pending projects on the fast track. Perennially Pending Projects? PPP is the mantra to fast-track civic and infrastructure projects, but experience gives impression to the contrary. TOI explores what delays the projects
Bangalore: What’s that one thing which takes the aura off public-private partnership (PPP) projects? Endless bureaucratic maze.
Conceding that delay is due to government procedures, sources in the Karnataka infrastructure development department say: “It’s a misconception that projects taken up by the private sector will progress swiftly. There are a lot of formalities to be followed. In the process, investors may opt out. Hence, the projects are bound to face inordinate delays.”
Several big PPP projects are on the drawing board, but they are mostly stuck in the labyrinthine government corridors: the 1,000-1,320-MW coal-based power plants at Hukkeri and Jewargi have been planned at a cost of Rs 4,500-5,000 crore on build-own-operate basis. Bids were invited in August 2007. The status: “Bid evaluation under process.”
The latest PPP project is the Devanahalli business park on build-operate-transfer basis at a cost of Rs 9,000 crore.
Delays, especially on acquiring land, have been nagging the projects. The Tatas pulling out of the Bangalore international airport project in the 1990s is a good example. Frequent regime changes don’t help matters either; for, even when in power, they often fall prey to the announce-and-forget syndrome. Officials insist that a majority of the projects are at ‘bidding, under-construction or pipeline’ stage. Hopefully, the ‘completed’ board will shortly follow.
HOW THEY ARE EXECUTED
Government assesses the need for an infrastructure project and its technical feasibility. Then, it goes for competitive bidding. If bidding results in a proposal, then the contractor has to match the competing counter-proposal within a stipulated time-frame, and be chosen as the project concessionaire
TYPES OF PPP PROJECTS
MAJOR: Management contract, lease, concession, divestiture, greenfield and brownfield MINOR: Build and Transfer; Build, Lease, Transfer; Build, Transfer, Operate; Build, Operate, Transfer; Build, Own, Operate, Transfer; Build, Own, Operate; Build, Operate, Share, Transfer; Build, Own, Operate, Share, Transfer; Build, Own, Lease, Transfer; Design, Build, Own, Operate, Transfer; Build, Own, Operate, Share, Transfer
How PPP is working in the Bangalore-Mysore road (up to Maddur) project
Brindavan Express Tollway, a private agency, has invested over Rs 200 crore on annuity basis. The agreement is for a 10-year concession period, including the maintenance. Karnataka Road Development Corporation pays the company every six months