CUTS INSTITUTE FOR REGULATION & COMPETITION PRESENTS ROUND TABLE DISCUSSION ON “Innovative Financing For sustainable Infrastructure Development through Public Private Parternerships”

Background
According to an estimate by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) , achieving the SDGs will require around US$5 to $7 trillion, with an investment gap in developing countries of about $2.5 trillion up-to 2030. The private sector contributes only around 10 percent of the current infrastructure investments globally. A recent report by the Business & Sustainable Development Commission estimates that achieving the SDGs could open up $12 trillion of market opportunities and create 380 million new jobs by 2030. It is widely believed that development of sustainable infrastructure would mitigate environmental, economic, and social risks, as well as increase resource optimization. It has also tremendous potential to help achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and other sustainability-related targets set by international agreements. According to OECD report, more than eighty percentage of the SDG’s implementation would require development of sustainable infrastructure in some form or the other.

To bridge the infrastructure deficit in developing countries like India, there is a growing emphasis on increasing the investments in physical infrastructure. In this context, it becomes very critical to attract private investment through a slew of policy and regulatory incentives and ensure that infrastructure development becomes a driver to achieve the SDGs set by international agreements aligning with the national agenda. However, SDG related infrastructure are largely commercially not viable, thus unattractive for private sector players.

The Capital requirement for achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) related infrastructure is very large and only public financing would not be adequate. PPPs, although seemingly out of favor presently, would play an increasingly important role in harnessing private finance, which makes it imperative to develop innovative financing instruments to make available funds for these type of long term projects. Without such instruments, scaling up PPP programs to achieve the SDGs by 2030 would be a daunting challenge.

The round table discussion provides a unique platform to discuss the issues pertaining to SDG related infrastructure development through PPP route and how innovating financing could help bridge the funding gap in the sector

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.)Introduction to PPP for SDG’sThis session uncovers the need for private sector investments and the importance of PPP’s for developing sustainable infrastructure in developing countries for achieving SDG’s.

Panelist:
1. Mr. RCM Reddy – MD and CEO, IL&FS2. Mr. Sidharath Kapur* – Executive Director and Member of the Board, GMR Airports Limited3. Ms. Marije Broekhuijsen – WASH Specialist, UNICEF4. Mr. Devendra Rajora – GM, GE healthcare South Asia Keynote Speaker: Prof. Leena Srivastava – Vice Chancellor, TERI SAS

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

Session 2 (16:30 to 17:45 Hrs.)Long-term innovative financing mechanism for PPP projects this session uncovers the huge financial requirements for developing sustainable infrastructure and how the required to finance can be raised using new and innovative financing techniques.

Panelist:
1. Mr. Suneet Kumar Maheshwari – Founder & Managing Partner of Udvik Infrastructure Advisors LLP2. Mr. Prassana Srinivasan – Sustainable Infrastructure Expert3. Mr. Krishan Routela – Associate Project Officer ( Infrastructure), ADBKeynote Speaker: Prof. Manipadma Datta – TERI SASClosing Address followed by High tea (17:45 Hrs.)