Govt to hire IT, finance experts for PPP cells in ministries

Multilateral lending agency Asian Development Bank (ADB) has invited applications from IT and finance experts to strengthen the public-private partnership (PPP) cells being set up in the five central ministries under the technical assistance programme.

"The ADB has invited applications from consultants on behalf of the central government for the posts in five Union ministries. The consultants will work for various PPP projects run by the government," an ADB official said.

The ADB would scout for 18 consultants to be placed in the central ministries which include road transport and highways, shipping, civil aviation, urban development, tourism and railways.

The PPP consultants will help the government in management, coordination and implementation of various projects, the ADB said while inviting the applications from consultants.

They would be responsible for harmonising the PPP activities across the ministries and development partners, along with planning and appraising the various projects, it said.

The experts will assist the government in data collection and interpretation relevant to upcoming and ongoing projects. The consultants would also be required to develop a methodology for collecting and tracking information for each project and assist in conducting baseline surveys related to PPP projects, the ADB said.

The experts would be undertaking various finance related functions like forecasting cash flows under different legal and regulatory frameworks and evaluating the viability proposals, it added.

ADB, which is assisting the country in various projects through loan or technical expertise, would focus on transport, energy and urban sectors during the next three years (2008-10).

In terms of loan amounts, the transport and energy sector would get the maximum weightage over the next three years, the ADB's country report said.

The lending agency has approved an assistance of $2.9 billion for 2008, $3.1 billion for 2009 and $3.2 billion for 2010, the report added.

The allocation for transport and energy accounts for about 36 per cent and 26 per cent, respectively, of the total loan amount. It will be followed by urban sector (including tourism at 16 per cent) and governance and finance related projects (at 11 per cent).