Infra authority to be formed to boost projects

MUMBAI: The Maharashtra government will soon form an Infrastructure Development Enabling Authority for approval and monitoring of development projects. A bill in this regard has been brought in the Legislature that will be introduced this week. Projects related to the public works department will come under the authority.

“In order to ensure transparency, competitiveness, proper and timely execution of proposals in infrastructure sectors, the government considered it expedient to enact the law and set up the authority. It is expected that the authority will facilitate coordination between the agencies and government and promote competitive bidding to select project entrepreneurs for implementation of the project, encouragement of new concepts, technologies and intellectual property rights and recommending the time limit,” PWD minister Chandrakant Patil said. This is also known as the Swiss Challenge Method.

The authority will receive various proposals from the PWD and study them to determine if they are really necessary. It will also study the original project proponent in case more than one proposal is submitted. It will carry out competitive bidding and choose the best bidder.

 The authority will also check the financial feasibility before approving any project and encourage the public-private partnership financial model. There will be monitoring from the authority on the projects to see if they are being implemented within the time frame, an official from the PWD said.

The authority will not approve projects that contravene any existing laws, result in the creation of a monopoly, require viability gap funding and do not involve the use of modern technology or concept of innovative funding pattern, the minister added.