CUTS Institute for Regulation & Competition in collaboration with PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry presents Round Table Discussion on “Public-Private Partnerships for Developing Social Sector Infrastructure”

Background
The Government of India has been attempting to mainstream the implementation of Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) in social sectors with the support of international agencies like the Asian Development Bank and the World Bank through financial and technical assistance. However, the investment is mere, as the center and the states lag behind in designing and developing the PPP project framework. The central and various state governments since the year 2011 have implemented only about 11 percent of the total PPP projects in the social sector. In terms of total expenditure on social sectors, for the year 2016-17, only close to 7% of the GDP was spent by the government both central and state governments combined. Of this, the health and education sectors accounted for 4.3%. This budgetary allocation is far less as compared to OECD countries that spent an average of nearly 20% of the GDP on social sectors in the year 2016.

India is the fourth largest PPP market both in terms of value and volume can serve as a good example for improving the adoption of PPPs in social sectors domestically, for emerging economies and other countries across the globe. This discussion aims to provide a platform for discussing the challenges for developing social sector infrastructure through PPPs, especially in the water and sanitation sector while sharing the CIRC’s experience of developing integrated water and sanitation model based on PPP as a pilot in selected clusters of Odisha.

Agenda

Registration: 14:15 to 14:30 Hrs.
Opening Address: 14:45 to 15:00 Hrs.
By Dr. Arvind Mayaram (Chairman, CIRC)

Session 1 (15:00 to 16:15 Hrs.)
PPP for developing social sector infrastructure This session uncovers the need for private sector investments and the importance of PPP’s for developing the social sector (sectors including – Education, WASH, Health, etc…) infrastructure in countries like India.

Panelist*:
1. Mr. RCM Reddy – Udvik Infrastructure
2. Mr. Rajan Kapoor – PPP consultant
3. Mr. Saibal De – Former Chief Executive of IMICL

Moderator:
Dr. Arvind Mayaram (Chairman, CIRC)

TEA (16:15 to 16:30 Hrs.)

Session 2 (16:30 to 17:45 Hrs.)
PPP model for integrated water and sanitation in select clusters: Discussing the case of Odisha A PPP based model developed for piped water supply in Odisha, will be shared with the participants for an open discussion.

Presentation on the project:
Mr. R K Tripathy – Sr. Fellow, CIRC

Panelist*:
1. Mr. Anshuman, Associate Director, Water Resources, TERI
2. Mr. Avinash Kumar, Director, Program and Policy, Water Aid

Moderator:
Mr. Prassana Srinivasan – Sustainable Infrastructure Expert
Closing Address followed by High tea (17:45 Hrs.)
* subject to confirmation