Promoting and Facilitating Public-Private Partnership Projects in the State of Punjab: An Assessment on the Role of Punjab Infrastructure Development Board

Abstract

In the era of New Public Management (NPM), governance reform and public management reform is seen as strategies to adapt the public sector to meet new challenges post by the market economy and also against the criticisms of inefficient and costly public sectors. The aim is to reorganise the functioning of the public sectors by incorporating private sector values and market principles in the provision of public services and facilities. Public-Private Partnership (PPP) is one of the commonly adopted new forms of development strategy since the adoption of new industrial policy of 1991 in India and the Central as well as State Government introduced PPP models in various sectors of the economy. In Punjab, the Punjab Infrastructure Development Ordinance 1998 that established Punjab Infrastructure Development Board (PIDB) to provide overall development of infrastructure services in the state was repealed in 2002 by enacting the Punjab Infrastructure(Developmentand Regulation) Act, 2002 to providea regulatory framework and guidelines for the private-sector participation in infrastructure development through PPP models. Development of Infrastructure projects by PIDB through PPP includes Road and Bridge, Transport, Technical Education, Hospitals and Tourism Sectors. The present study examined the organisational structure of PIDB as a State PPP nodal agency and also the involvement of external agencies in the provision of public services in the State of Punjab. An attempt has been made to assess the role of PIDB in the implementation and regulating PPP projects across the various infrastructure sectors of the State economy.