Public, pvt JV in focus
IF SENIOR officers of the State Government are to be believed, the 11th Five Year Plan, to commence on April 1, 2007, will usher Uttar Pradesh into a new era of public-private sector partnership.
IF SENIOR officers of the State Government are to be believed, the 11th Five Year Plan, to commence on April 1, 2007, will usher Uttar Pradesh into a new era of public-private sector partnership.
As public-private sector partnership is going to be an area of focus during the 11th Five Year Plan, the State government is contemplating an independent cell to identify areas and projects where private sector participation may be encouraged.
The government will soon formulate a ‘model concession agreement’ on the pattern of the model agreement that the Planning Commission has prepared to encourage the public-private sector partnership. The government has already secured a copy of the Planning Commission document. Senior officers assert the model agreement will help in expediting the pace of development in UP. The government has already constituted working groups that have been asked to prepare approach papers.
Principal Secretary Planning V Venkatachalam said working groups comprising experts, departmental heads and otherspecialists have been asked to complete formulation of approach papers soon. The State government had initially asked the working groups to submit papers by May 15 this year. Now more time had been allowed to the working groups, he said. Besides the education, health, medical and agriculture sectors, the working groups would also formulate approach papers on energy and other important sectors, he said.
Areas of special concern will be reduction in infant mortality rate, increasing literacy rate, creating more employment opportunities and dealing with the problem of poverty alleviation with specific focus on those living below the poverty line.The State government had set targets for the 10th plan as well.
This time the State government will lay emphasis on the outcome of the proposed 11th plan with specific projections on where the new plan proposed to take Uttar Pradesh by 2012.
There is a proposal to set 8 percent growth rate target for the government in order to ensure that it remained within the achievable limits. At the end of the 10th plan period the State Government hopes that the average growth rate may remain in the range of 5 to 5.5 percent. This will be considerably high if compared to the achievements in the first two years of the current plan when the growth rate probably remained well below expectations.
Meanwhile, the mood in the corridors of power remains upbeat in view of the achievements on the plan expenditure front in 2005-2006. The State government was able to earmark a sum of Rs 13,630 crore for expenditure during 2005-2006 against the annual plan outlay of Rs 13,500 crore. This was first time that the State government was able to provide 100 per cent funds for its annual plan outlay, said Venkatachalam.
