The Chief Secretary, Dr. Arun Kumar Mehta today approved the establishment of a Public Private Partnership-cum-Project Appraisal (PPCPA) cell within the Planning, Monitoring and Development Department in Jammu and Kashmir.
Additional Chief Secretary, Finance Department, Administrative Secretary, Planning, Monitoring and Development Department, and Administrative Secretary, Law Department participated in the meeting.
The Chief Secretary also approved the engagement of consultants and domain experts, besides approving the financial grant of Rs. 90 lakhs for the functioning of the new PPCPA cell.
Dr. Mehta advised the Planning Department to seek guidance and support of the NITI Aayog for streamlining the functioning of the PPCPA cell and making it more efficient, systematic and result-oriented.
It was informed that the new cell will comprise experts from the fields of urban development, procurement, support personnel, planning, housing, transport, industry, tourism, social sector, finance, and environment, among others.
The new cell will assist government departments in framing projects to be taken up on Public Private Partnership mode; get viability gap funding under various PPP schemes of the Government of India; carry out cost-benefit analysis; and monitor internal rate of return/ return of investment of the project.
The PPCA cell will further provide assistance in the preparation of pre-feasibility reports and development of detailed project reports; recommend appropriate regulatory policy framework for creation, administration and monitoring of project development; coordinate with relevant stakeholders/departments/agencies; serve as repository of all information including best practices, guidelines, schemes, PPP projects; and undertake demand assessment and feasibility studies in Jammu and Kashmir.