The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : PPP to be the new mantra

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Saturday, Jul 19, 2008
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

PPP to be the new mantra

Special Correspondent

Scheme to set up land banks for industrial development in the pipeline
Government planning to expand Yeshasvini scheme

— Photo: V. Sreenivasa Murthy

Discussing budget: FICCI president Rajeev Chandrasekhar (second from left) greeting Minister for Large and Medium Scale Industries Murgesh Nirani at the National Executive Committee Meeting of FICCI in Bangalore on Friday. Also seen are Economic Adviser to the Chief Minister K.V. Raju (left) and Chief Secretary Sudhakar Rao.

Bangalore: A day after presenting the budget, Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa promised captains of industry that his Government would accord priority to Public-Private Partnerships as a vehicle for promoting industrial development in Karnataka.

His speech, read out in absentia by Minister for Large and Medium Industries Murugesh R. Nirani at the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry’s (FICCI) National Executive Committee meeting in Bangalore on Friday, highlighted aspects of the State Budget which would impact industrial development significantly.

Mr. Yeddyurappa pointed out that although the budget was “pro-farmer” and aimed at “rejuvenating the agricultural sector,” it was “equally committed” to promoting growth of industry, services and trade. The Chief Minister as well as several other officials representing the Government at the event, underlined the crucial role of Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) in the Government’s strategy for industrial development of the State. The plan to double electricity generation capacity as well as the building of new roads as well as widening existing roads will employ the PPP model.

Participating in an interactive session with industry leaders, K.V. Raju, Economic Adviser to the Chief Minister, said: “Employing PPPs is a major theme of the new government across all sectors of the economy.” Mr. Raju said “a scheme of establishing land banks for industrial development is in the pipeline.” He said this would make the industrial regime more investor-friendly.

Chief Secretary Sudhakar Rao said the government was planning to expand the Yeshasvini Scheme, a cooperative healthcare scheme now confined to farmers, agricultural workers and weavers. “A Yeshasvini-plus scheme is a possibility,” he said. He said the Government would help industry “get around” the “tough provisions” of the land reforms legislation which deter use of land for industrial purposes. Initiating the discussion, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, FICCI president and MP, said the last five years had been “unsatisfactory” from the development perspective. He said the path pursued was “dangerously uni-dimensional, implying an over-dependence on the services sector, which resulted in non-inclusive growth.”

More than a quarter of the people in the State were below the poverty line and the State lagged behind its peers in terms of social indicators, he added.

He said FICCI’s Suvarna Karnataka agenda was aimed at reviving agriculture, improve economic governance and revamp government institutions delivering services. He said it also aimed at developing Bangalore and six other cities into modern cities with governance models that create institutional space for their citizens.

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