In the face of criticism from the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) over the slow pace of execution of PPP (public private partnership) projects, the state government has decided to strengthen its PPP cell by roping in experts from fields like finance and accounting.
“The PPP cell within the department of planning and coordination will be strengthened. We will include experts in the areas of finance and accounting in this cell. The experts will offer their guidance in appointment of transaction advisors, preparation of detailed project reports (DPRs) and examine viability of projects that can be taken up on the PPP mode,” said an official source.
In its latest report on state finances for the year ended March 31 this year, the CAG had rapped the state government for its failure to expedite projects taken up on the PPP mode.
“The government has framed PPP policy in 19 sectors of the economy to generate maximum resources for infrastructure build up during 2007-12. However, the resource generated during 2007 to 2011 was negligible as most of these projects did not take off. Only six out of 64 projects had been completed at an estimated expenditure of Rs 36.99 crore. Effective actions have to be taken to gear up the activities of PPP for generation of additional resources for creating public infrastructure which is so woefully deficient in the state,” the CAG said in its report.
Also, there is a need to appropriately disclose the quantum of resources planned to be generated through the PPP route in the budget and finance accounts which has not been done so far, the report added.
