India open to private players developing city rail

Dec 13, 2007, 16:03 GMT

New Delhi, Dec 13 (IANS) The government cannot develop mass rapid transit systems (MRTS) in major cities in the country without private participation, a top planner said here Thursday.

Gajendra Haldea, advisor, infrastructure, Planning Commission, said: 'The government has priorities like health, education, and rural infrastructure. MRTS is an urban need but the government cannot develop it without private participation.'

'Despite logging a growth rate of more than nine percent, the government cannot fund infrastructure needs because of resource constraints. Only public-private partnerships can create metros (city railways systems) in big cities. The private sector should come forward to fund public projects,' Haldea said.

'Considering the fast pace of urbanisation, we need modern and efficient MRTS. Though Delhi Metro has been funded by the state and central government as equal partners, we need public-private partnerships to replicate the success story in other cities,' he said.

Haldea was speaking at a national seminar on MRTS organised by industry organisation Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).

Satish Kumar, director, electrical, Delhi Metro Rail Corp (DMRC), said 29 Indian cities with a population of one million need city rail networks.

'I think private players can play a major role here and the government offer by Haldea should be accepted,' he said.

He, however, made it clear the security of these MRTS cannot be given to a private player. 'Security should be a state subject always.'

DMRC is currently providing technical assistance to cities like Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kochi and Pune to develop their own networks and ease the growing traffic problem.

Delhi Metro is ferrying around 650,000 passengers every day over a network of 65 km.

Kumar further said: 'MRTS is important to protect resources and environment. We need to switch over to MRTS from conventional modes of transportation. Delhi Metro should serve as a benchmark for other metros. We should maintain global standards with minimum hardship to people.'

Elaborating further on the private-public partnership model for developing infrastructure, Haldea said: 'India needs investment of $550 billion in infrastructure. The government can chip in only 30 percent of this amount. The rest should come from the private sector.'

'India has a great pool of engineering resources to undertake cheaper and faster projects. Now, we need good financial engineering,' he pointed out.

© 2007 Indo-Asian News Service