Public–private partnerships in India

[2] The Ministry of Finance centralizes the coordination of PPPs, through its Department of Economic Affairs' (DEA) PPP Cell.

Set up in 2006, IIFCL provides financial assistance in the following sectors: transportation, energy, water, sanitation, communication, social and commercial infrastructure.

Finally, the PPP Cell has produced a series of guidance papers and a 'PPP Toolkit' to support project preparation and decision-making processes.

Projects using the 3P model have also proceeded in Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, and Tamil Nadu state.

In August 2012, the Prime Minister of India, Manmohan Singh, lifted the ban on the transfer of government-owned land, relaxed land transfer policy and did away with the need for Cabinet approval for 3P projects in order to accelerate the building of infrastructure.

However, this attempt failed as the Government did not manage to create a good enabling environment for private investment[9] and poor project preparation.

The mindsets of policymakers and politicians also started to evolve, with a better understanding of the role of private sector companies and less opposition to their involvement in the water space.

[11] First, the local community was never consulted on the project, and a public outcry ensued when information was finally shared.

[13] A strongly worded report by an independent committee raised serious concerns and recommended that the town's water supply services should be handed over to public ownership.

It is thus critical that key performance indicators are precisely laid out in the contract and that the government monitors closely the work of its private partner.

For example, a PPP project may result in the transfer of civil servants to the private sector, important tariff increases or resettlement issues to name a few.

It is difficult to identify all possible contingencies during project development and events and issues may arise that were not anticipated in the documents or by the parties at the time of the contract.