Infrastructure

As India's public spending has been constrained by large budget deficit, a substantial portion of investment in infrastructure will come from private sector, report said. It further mentioned that public-private partnership has emerged as an effective method to attract private investment in infrastructure. By 2006, the government had awarded 86 PPP contracts.

Official sources told IANS that the government had sought an approval from the central government for floating the bonds.

Chief Minister Nitish Kumar made the request to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Saturday, an official said.

Nitish Kumar has also sought a special package of Rs.180 billion from New Delhi to build infrastructure and relief distribution in the flood-hit districts.

Floodwaters have inundated 21 of the state's 38 districts, mostly in the northern areas of the state bordering Nepal, affecting 25 million people and rendering thousands homeless.

According to official estimates, floods have damaged 128 embankments in several districts. The old bunds and canal systems have been damaged.

Roads, including national highways, were also badly damaged. About 480 km of highways and about 1,100 km of rural roads were the worst hit.

Besides, the university intends to introduce a hotel management course, so the hotel would provide hands-on experience to the students. Confirming the move, vice-chancellor B.N. Pandey said he had met officials of the Delhi-based Banarasi Das Chandiwala Institute of Hotel Management and Catering Technology on Sunday and sought assistance for the project.

Chief Minister Nitish Kumar will leave for Delhi today to finalise the proposed plan at a meeting with Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia tomorrow.

Sources in the Chief Minister's Secretariat said besides the annual plan for 2007-08, the size of the 11th Five Year Plan prepared by the state government involving Rs 58,310 crore, with a projected annual growth of 8.5 per cent, was also expected to be finalised during the meeting.

The size of the 10th Five Year Plan for Bihar was Rs 21,000 crore, Rs 37,310 crore less than the one prepared by the state government for the 11th plan.

A senior official in secretariat said the primary focus of the annual plan for 2007-08 was on social sector, including social security, besides road construction, irrigation and flood control.

While 30 per cent of the annual plan outlay amounting to Rs 3,000 cr would be spent on social sector, transport and road construction would get about Rs 2,400 crore.

The railways is seeking private investment for some of its proposed big-ticket projects—the dedicated freight corridor to crisscross the country, modernisation of railway stations, wagon manufacture, laying down of tracks and to improve connectivity between the ports and different parts of the country. In fact, according to Laloo, private sector participation is welcome in all areas that will strengthen the railway's infrastructure.

Sources say that initially Laloo had been reluctant to allow entry to private players, but once convinced, he went ahead with some experiments like privatisation of the container business. Now that it has been successful and is earning profits, he has been emboldened to seek all-out support from industry in the form of public-private partnership. Licences have been issued to 14 companies to participate in the container business, collecting Rs 450 crore as licence fee. These companies will be involved with every step of the container business, from booking of traffic to aggregating the goods to distributing them at the destination by arranging transport. The companies would also be investing Rs 2,000 crore to construct and improve terminals and to purchase wagons and provide other facilities.

Saying he was impressed by the way the state under the leadership of Kumar had changed in a small period of ten months, Mahindra said the group was considering investing in four of the six sectors, including tractor, tourism, agriculture, and information and technology, in which the company has large stakes.

Mahindra, who was accompanied by four senior executives of different divisions of the Group, sat through a number of presentations made by the road, health, finance, urban, and education officials of the state government.

Chief Secretary G. S. Kang and vice-chairman of the State Planning Board N. K. Singh was also present at the meeting.

Mahindra said while the Group was finalizing the set up of a tractor assembly unit in the state, serious considerations were being given to set up world-class hotels in the Buddhist Circuit in Bihar.

Investment in the field of food processing were also being considered particularly in the packaging and export of famous Bihari litchis and luscious mangoes that have huge market across the world, he said.

Describing his meeting with the Chief Minister and other state officials as fruitful and encouraging, Mahindra said a team of expert would soon visit Bihar to study details about various projects his Group was interested in.

Patna Airport's runway falls grossly short of the minimum length required for a Boeing 737 or an A-320 Airbus, the planes used by Sahara Airlines, Jet Airways and Indian Airlines with full capacity, to land or take-off.

As per aviation guidelines, the minimum length for a 126-seat Boeing 737 and an A 320 to land and take-off with full load is 7,500 metres.