New Delhi, Nov. 19: The Vijay Kelkar Committee, set up to review the issues confronting the public-private partnership (PPP) model, today submitted its report to finance minister Arun Jaitley.
While the contents of the report are expected to be made public in the next few days, officials said the Kelkar report would address key issues such as design modifications to contractual arrangements, legal frameworks to address the problem of stalled infrastructure projects and steps to improve the appraisal process followed by banks.
"Over the last few years, PPP projects have run into various problems. There were problems relating to contractual issues. There were problems relating to finance issues. There were problems relating to capacity issues and implementation difficulties. The committee was requested to look into all these aspects," said economic affairs secretary Shaktikanta Das.
Since PPP projects are bound to be long-term contracts lasting up to 30 years, tackling unexpected changes in the conditions of operation has increasingly become difficult.
Das said the committee has held detailed deliberation with various stakeholders and other experts. "We will go through the report and the government will take decisions on the recommendations as early as possible."
According to officials, some of the recommendations may include allowing renegotiation after the signing of contracts, ensuring contracts are enforceable and providing an efficient dispute-resolution mechanism.
Analysts said any increase in investment by the private sector as a result of the recommendations could complement the Centre's increased capital expenditure outlay and provide a much-needed boost to infrastructure.
The Centre had announced an additional capital outlay of Rs 70,000 crore in this fiscal.
India has over 900 PPP projects in various stages of development. The stock of stalled projects at December-end stood at Rs 8.8 lakh crore, or 7 per cent of India's gross domestic product, according to data from the 2014-15 Economic Survey.
Besides Kelkar, the panel includes India Infrastructure Finance Company chairman and managing director S.B. Nayar and NCAER director-general Shekhar Shah.
