JOIN USThe State government’s Infrastructure Development Department has appointed Transaction Advisors for nearly 10 departments of the State, to enable infrastructure to be developed under the public private partnership (PPP) model.
Speaking to members of the media on Monday, infrastructure development minister Sunil Valyapure, while on a maiden visit to his native district after becoming the cabinet minister, said that in order to create a shelf of projects there was a need to take a sector-by-sector inventory, undertake pre-feasibility studies and identify transaction advisors for projects to be taken up for tender process.
Initial help
The respective departments or organisations would require hand-holding during the initial development process, especially in areas of information generation or sharing, and monitoring of projects, etc, he added.
The departments for which advisors have been appointed are: Health, Education, Commerce and Industry, Tourism, Energy, Public Works, Transport, Urban Development, and Bangalore Development. Advisors have many tasks, including: taking inventory of sectors and conducting pre-feasibility studies; procure plans for the further development of projects identified as part of pre-feasibility studies; assist in information collation and update data on programmes, and creating PPP cells to institutionalise PPP streamlining.
Airports and airstrips
Valyapure said that this department had constructed airports, airstrips and helipads to improve air connectivity in different places of the state. The airports that have been taken up are at: Gulbarga, Bijapur, Hassan, Shimoga, Belgaum, Kawar and Bidar.
The airport at Bellary was under tender process while airports at Mysore, Mangalore and Hubli are being taken up in collaboration with the Airport Authority of India. The work on airstrips have been proceeding at Raichur, Davanagere, Chikmagalur, Udupi, Kushalnagar, Gokarna, Chitradurga, Bagalkot, Haveri, Gadag and Kollegal.