TN Infrastructure board to come into force with in two months

Chennai:
The state government has constituted the Tamil Nadu Infrastructure
Development Board and and the government will come out with a law to
govern in the next couple of months.

The board, which would serve as an institutional framework for
conceptualisation, prioritisation, sanction and speedy implementation
of critical infrastructure projects, will also focus on whether a
project is feasible for public private participation after a rigorous
analysis, said state finance secretary S Krishnan.

Delivering a Theme address during the national conference on potential
and strategies for public private partnerships in the urban water
sector, he stressed on the need for ‘value for money’ approach and
taking lessons from the experiences across the globe before going in
for public private participation in urban water sector.

He said the state is conscious that large chunk of infrastructure
needs to come through public private participation mode.

MP and former chairman taskforce Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu highlighted
how the per capita of water is decreasing. He said in the next 35
years population will go up to 1.8 billion but availability of water
will come down by 50 per cent.

He also said that there is lack of quality drinking water and
slippages during the supply of water. He said poor pay more for water
and yet they lack quality water while highlighting that public private
partnership should ensure providing quality water to slum dwellers.

Interestingly, the investment requirement for infrastructure in water
supply and sewerage by 2032 is Rs 8.7 lakh crore and 4.8 lakh crore
respectively.

British deputy high commissioner Mike Nithavrianakis shared British
experience and said water and energy form the pillar of bilateral
relations between india and UK.

S Narayan, president of Athena Infonomics and former Union secretary,
T T Srinivasraghavan, president of Madras Chamber of Commerce and
Industry also spoke on the occasion.