Top corporates like Tata Power, Jindal Steel and Reliance Energy have lined up to develop infrastructure in rural India for the first time under the revised Provision of Urban Amenities in Rural Areas (Pura) scheme.
The private players will help create and maintain urban facilities like sewerage, drains, tap water, street lights and healthcare in the hinterlands of the country for a period of 10 years in partnership with the panchayats. In its earlier avatar, Pura was a pet scheme of former president A.P.J. Abdul Kalam. Enthused with the idea, even the Asian Development Bank has become associated with the project and will provide technical expertise. “The response of 93 companies to the bids exceeded our expectations. This would be an experiment of its own kind,” said rural development secretary B.K. Sinha.
Once the corporates identify the area where they would like to work, the short-listed ones would be asked to submit their specific proposals. To ensure accountability, stringent clauses will bind the private companies to delivery mechanism. The ministry expects to sign first contracts by January 2011.
“What attracted the corporates to this scheme is the business model which can get around 12 per cent returns to them,” said Arvind Mayaram additional secretary in the ministry of rural development. The government will utilise a corpus of around Rs 248 crore for the 11 five-year plan.