PPP CONCESSION AGREEMENTS FOR RURAL ROADS - AN ANALYSIS OF THE QUESTIONS OF DEVELOPMENT AND PUBLIC POLICY

摘要

The need to develop a new structure for rural roads under Public Private Partnerships isillustrated in this paper. Roads are the lifelines of any economy, and the rural economy isno exception. The fundamental premise of the design proposed in this paper is the “bigpush” theory, which states that even the simplest activity requires a network of otheractivities. The success of the structure and reasonableness of the cost determines thereturns that are guaranteed to the Concessionaire and the timeliness and the success ofthe project. In addition the concessionaire will be awarded commercial use of land aroundthe tolling booths to supplement the returns. An innovative structure involving the buildingof warehouses and cold storage centers have been included for the development of theland around the tolling booths so that the rural areas are benefitted economically and haveimproved access to markets in the cities. The structure for the concession agreement isbased on the current data on Public Private Partnerships in India. The paper also providesfor the concession term to be extended until the total cost of the project is recovered aslong as the conditions for the same are met. The paper concludes that if the concessionsare to be in the interest of the users, it is important to ensure a robust design that is basedon competitive bidding, mitigates the risks mentioned in the paper and includes a fairpricing scheme.