International BusinessBudget Wishlist: Infrastructure
CEOSPEAK: Amitabh Das Mundhra, Director, Simplex Infrastructure
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PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP — THE WAY FORWARD
The budgetary allocation for the infrastructure sector should be increased. Further, the money earned after divesting governments stake in various public sector undertaking units should be spent purely on creating infrastructure.
The government should also simplify the tax structure - not the amount of tax charged but the structure of it.
Chamber-Speak
FICCI
There should be emphasis on reducing the cost and time overrun for infrastructure projects. There is a pressing need for establishing an effective regulatory and monitoring agencies for the infrastructure sector. The industry is also keen on a stable policy on Special Economic Zones. Government should also look at ways of encouraging private participation in the sector.
CII
The government should look at easing the land acquisition norms. This will encourage the players to participate in the infrastructre projects. The public-private-partnership model is the way forward for several infrastructre projects therefore PPP model should be made more efficient. An effective regulatory authority in the sector will send positive signals to the industry.
EXPERT VIEW: Amrit Pandurangi, Leader- Transportation & Infrastructure Practice, PricewaterhouseCoopers
It is critical that the Budget leverages the available money by bringing in even more Public Private Partnership Infrastructure projects which also ensures efficient execution, better service accountability and better management expertise. To effectively deal with land acquisition issues faced in PPP projects, an incentive mechanism at the local level to speed up land acquisition should be set up. Higher allocation and quicker processing for accessing Viability Gap Funding would also help.