Unified deal for core sector by year-end

The government is formulating a standard concession agreement for roads, ports and airports, expected to be ready by later this year.

Addressing the fifth construction summit organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry here today, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia said most state governments had also agreed to have a standard concession agreement for all infrastructure sector projects.

The demand for such an agreement has been pending, with contractors and private players of the opinion that a common agreement for all infrastructure projects would help in streamlining their implementation.

D Subba Rao, secretary (economic affairs), finance ministry said the government and private partners had a common accountability to the people and standardisation of documents could provide that accountability.

He also said the Planning Commission would include a definition of infrastructure along with the amount of investment required for the sector in the Eleventh Five-Year Plan (2007-12). He added that the government was keen on making the public-private partnership model successful in the country.

At the summit, Ahluwalia dismissed the proposal for a ministry of infrastructure. "I do not think it is going to work as infrastructure involves so many sectors," he said.

Ahluwalia said the investment in infrastructure had to grow at 8 per cent annually for the next five years from the less than 5 per cent at present to sustain a gross domestic product growth rate of 9 per cent during the Eleventh Plan.

The summit also focussed on the contentious issue of having a regulator for the roads, ports and airport sector.