| Is
Public-Private Participation in Infrastructure Losing its Sheen?
--
Padmalatha Suresh
Modern
infrastructure services play a vital role in economic growth and poverty alleviation.
Prior to about two decades, most governments developed and delivered the requisite
infrastructure services, or entrusted the responsibility to state-owned enterprises.
But in many countries, the results were disappointing, and private sector participation
was sought for resource availability and managerial expertise. Private sector
investment in developing countries' infrastructure peaked during the 1990s, and
then started declining. The important issue here is to determine whether the apparent
slowdown is a short-term phenomenon, or indicative of a major reverse shift from
private participation to an entirely public sector-oriented model. This paper
concludes that private participation in infrastructure would continue only if
governments carry out substantial reforms in the regulatory, legal and financing
frameworks of their countries, while de-risking the political environment in the
interests of the countries' economic development. ©
2006 IUP . All Rights Reserved.
Carriageway
and Safety of Life in Nagpur City: Before and After Renovation of Roads
-- Sujata
W Damke
The
road network of a city and its standard indicate the status of the city. Roads
are the main blood vessels of the city. Improved roads facilitate the traffic
flow during busy hours and help in keeping better environmental conditions by
avoiding traffic congestions. Keeping this in view, the study deals with the carriageway
and safety of life on Nagpur roads. After 2001, the width of the Nagpur city road
has increased, and consequently, the number of road accidents have decreased. ©
2006 Sujata W Damke. All Rights Reserved. Business
Analysis of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board Act, 2006
-- Vipul
Shah
After
the Electricity Act, 2003, the Petroleum and Natural gas Regulatory Board Act,
2006 (PnGrb Act) is a landmark legislation in the energy reforms process in India.
Just like the Electricity Act, the objective of the PNGRB Act is to introduce
and foster the competition in downstream hydrocarbon sector as one of the world's
fastest growing energy markets. This paper analyzes the PNGRB Act from a business
perspective, and offers several insights into the legislation. It also makes certain
suggestions on the issues to be addressed by the downstream sector regulator through
instruments such as guidelines, regulations and code of conduct, to ensure that
the objectives of the Act are ultimately achieved, and that the consumers get
benefitted by competition amongst the players. ©
2006 IUP . All Rights Reserved.
Solar
Energy Development in India: An Assessment
--
Leena Mary Eapen
and R Sthanumoorthy
The
Government of India, through the Ministry of Non-Conventional Energy Sources (MNES)
and the Solar Energy Center, initiated several programs for solar energy development
in India. The Solar Energy Center would undertake activities related to design,
development, testing, standardization, consultancy, training and information dissemination
in the field of solar energy. An assessment of alternative technologies confirms
that solar energy as an alternative to fossil fuels has the potential to meet
a large portion of energy needs in the future. But one of the key issues is that
there is no comprehensive and consistent policy on renewable energy in India.
With respect to technology, the major defect is its high capital investment which
makes them commercially redundant. Besides, non-cost barriers also inhibit the
use of solar energy. These barriers can be broadly classified as economic and
technological barriers, market-related barriers and institutional barriers. The
paper concludes by listing out some of the necessary measures to be implemented
by the government to promote the use of solar energy. ©
2006 IUP . All Rights Reserved.
Rural
Infrastructure is a Key to Rural Poverty: The Indian Experience
-- Rudra
Prakash Pradhan
This
paper discusses the role played by rural infrastructure towards the alleviation
of rural poverty. Examining in the context of Indian economy, the paper concludes
that the incidence of rural poverty is very closely linked with the availability
of rural infrastructure: where it is high, the incidence of rural poverty is significantly
low and vice versa. The paper finally suggests that the government take strong
initiative to boost rural infrastructure in the economy in order to alleviate
its rural poverty in tune with the country's expectation. ©
2006 IUP . All Rights Reserved.
The
Financing of Water Projects: A
Study
-- Deepak
Kumar
Financing
water projects had been a Herculean task until the private sector came into picture.
This paper lists a few such projects, drawn from India and overseas, which could
have never been successful without involving private sectors. Moreover, the role
of different international agencies like USAID, the World Bank, UNDP and the World
Economic Forum can't be ignored in this development. However, the word of caution
here is that each project, being unique in itself, should not be replicated elsewhere
without understanding the macro and micro environment. The paper concludes by
saying that the record of stakeholders in the water sector has not been particularly
satisfactory as on date due to the tendency to put the developed country methodologies
into practice in developing countries and thus, need an integrated coordination
among themselves. ©
2006 IUP . All Rights Reserved.
Book
Review Benchmarking
Performance: A Manual on Performance Measurement in Urban Local Bodies
--
Suneel Pandey, Rakesh Johri,
Shaleen Singhal and Harpreet Singh Kandra
©
2004 The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), New Delhi, India. All Rights Reserved.
IUP holds the copyright for the review. | 
