Airport line fallout: Metro bodies' views on PPP model sought

Following the airport line fiasco, the Urban Development ministry has asked different metro corporations across the country to send comments and views on making PPP models in metro sector more sustainable.
The ministry's move comes after the first PPP project in this sector- the high profile Delhi Airport metro line- landed in a bitter fight for separation between the public partner DMRC and private partner R-Infra.
Metro corporations have also been asked to analyze the standard PPP document prepared by the Planning Commission and share their observations on it. The UD ministry may forward a draft note on PPP projects to the cabinet later, a source said.

While the Airport line fiasco is a setback, the ministry continues to be keen on PPP projects.
Officials said it is likely that PPP models will be encouraged for more urban transport projects in the future including three Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS) corridors in the NCR.
The ministry had also held a meeting recently in which it had discussed the issues related to implementation of PPP projects in different states.

"We have before us the Delhi Airport line model which ran into difficulties but there are other PPP models like the Hyderabad and two lines of the Mumbai project. Then there is also the Gurgaon Rapid metro line," a senior official told PTI.

"There is a view in the ministry that attention has to be paid on PPP models to see what can make them sustainable," he added.
Urban Development Minister Kamal Nath has said in the past that the government will explore better PPP models.
In the last meeting in which PPP models were discussed, Metro organizations had pointed to the need to have improved concessionaire agreements, officials said.
They said that in a recent report, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) had also questioned the PPP model of the airport metro line and had observed that in the Concessionaire agreement for the airport line, vital clauses related to allocation of risk between the public and the private partner were missing.