Demystification Of Public-private Partnerships As A Means To Reduce The Burden On Public Budgets: The Case Of The Provision Of Off-national-grid-energy Through Biomass And Solar In Remote Rural India

摘要

The Government of India has the ambitious plan to electrify all households by 2012. Especially in rural areas this task is enormous as about 40 per cent of all rural households have so far no access to electricity. To fulfil this task the Government of India tries to attract the participation of the private sector through public-private partnerships (PPPs), which, according to theory, also relieve the burden on the public budget. This paper questions the attributed positive effects of PPPs on the public budget by analysing the policy and financial aspects of the remote rural electrification programme in India with special reference to the biomass and solar sector.