Badal gives 'in-principle' nod to PURA scheme in Punjab

The decision was taken by Badal in a meeting with the senior officers of Rural Development and Panchayats and IL&FS Infrastructure Development Corporation here this evening, an official release said.

The scope of the scheme was to select private partners to develop livelihood opportunities, urban amenities and infrastructure facilities to prescribe service levels almost akin to urban standards and to be responsible for the maintenance of the same for the period of ten years in identified villages or cluster of villages, it said.

Core funding would be sourced from Central Sector Scheme of PURA and complimented by additional support through convergence of different Central and state government and private financing.

As many as nine projects have been initiated under PURA through PPP spread across five states and one union territory (Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Maharashtra, Puducherry, Rajasthan and Uttarakhand) in the first batch.

It was proposed to undertake a second batch of 10-15 pilot projects for which the Planning Commission had already made available an additional fund to the tune of Rs 560 crore.

Under the scheme, the selected private partners would be required to provide standard amenities such as water supply, sewerage, roads, drainage, solid waste management, street lighting and power distribution besides also undertake some economic and skill development as part of the PURA project.