education.

The mission encouraged

women’s education also. In 1845 a ±STUDY
school for girls was begun in
Kozhikode. Herman Gundert took
the initiative in printing and
distributing text books in English and
Malayalam. Rajyasamacharam gave
Public - private partnerships
fillip and encouragement to Mission’s
efforts like this. Though the working in urban infrastructure
of the Rajyasamacharam had to be
stopped within three years, the Dr. Sasi Kumar
cultural activities of Basel Mission C. Jayasankar Prasad
continued in Malabar without any (PPP) describes a spectrum of possible

hindrance. Efforts in evangelisation
also continued vigorously.
The religious activities of the
Basel Mission were undertaken by
local people, as can be seen from the
reports of later years. The caste
problems prevalent during the
publication period of
Rajyasamacharam continued
unabated as is evident from the
reports of Samuel Ambattu, a native
of Thathamangalam who worked as
Upadeshi from 1892 to 1905. Even
after the cessation of publication of
Rajyasamacharam, several people of
the land came into the Christian fold
through the cultural ethos prepared
by the journal.
Samuel Ambatt’s report to the
Basel Mission Centre in Switzerland
on certain several such stories in
evangelisation. With the publication
of Rajyasamacharam, it was
expressed that the journal’s aim
would be the propagation of news
and reports pertaining to Kingdom
of God. Following this pattern, the
workers of the Basel Mission later on
visited kings and princes to propagate
the Kingdom of God. This is what
we get from the reports in the
journal. Rajyasamacharam was
published with main intention of
evangelisation. Along with it, by
reporting and spreading stories of
human love, the journal could
formulate the reader’s viewpoints
against caste distinction. The release
of Rajyasamacharam also helped to
kindle the interest towards the
medium of printing in the minds of
the Malayali folks. ± the capital, rationalization /cost base tariffs
3 6
T
oday our local/state authorities are
finding that their existing water,
sanitation, energy and other urban
infrastructures are unable to service their
rapidly expanding urban population. In
addition, governments realise that their
limited financial resources are not sufficient
to cover the needed expansion of these
services. Even where government do find
the resources to subsidize public utilities,
service is often poor and sectors of the
population largely unserved. It is becoming
increasingly clear that governments cannot
meet the continually growing demand for
water, waste, energy and other urban services
acting alone. Local governments are finding
that their tax revenues are not providing
sufficient resources to meet these needs, and
official development assistance has not been
able to fill the gap. It is in this backdrop that
we are forced to think of alternate sources
of finance, technical excellence and support
One of the most viable options is to involve
Spectrum of public-private partnership options
Public Investment
Provider Government
Service Management Lease
Contracts Contracts
the private sector in the state monopolies.
This is done through associations with
private sector on a project-to-project basis
and generally termed as PSP-private sector
participation, PPP- Public private
partnerships, PFI -Private finance initiatives
etc. These usages though done
interchangeably have slight differences in
their specific definitions and operational
frameworks but for the genera understanding
it conveys the meaning of involvement of
private sector in public services.
The term “public-private partnership”
relationships between public and private
actors for the cooperative provision of
infrastructure services. The only essential
ingredient is some degree of private
participation in the delivery of traditionally
public-domain services. Private actors may
include private businesses, as well as non-
governmental organizations (NGOs) and
community-based organizations (CBOs).
Through PPPs, the advantages of the
private sector -innovation, access to finance,
knowledge of technologies, managerial
efficiency, and entrepreneurial spirit -are
combined with the social responsibility,
environmental awareness, and local
knowledge of the public sector in an effort
to solve problems. In cities throughout the
world, private firms have demonstrated their
ability to improve the operation of
infrastructure services. However, it is
important to bear in mind that private
involvement does not provide an automatic
solution to urban infrastructure problems.
Private
Enabler
and
Regulator
Concession BOO
BOT Divestiture
The need for private sector involvement
in urban infrastructure development is
indisputable in the above context and it has
been proven beyond doubt that depending
on the option of private participation used
it could deliver the required benefits in urban
infrastructure projects.
Private sector participation could help
to bring technical and managerial expertise,
improve operating efficiency, large scale
injection of capital, greater efficiency in using
February 2004 KERALA CALLING
for services, better Table 1 project/problem in
responsiveness to hand which is to be
consumer needs and Option Asset O&M Capital Commercial Duration addressed ie, impor-
satisfaction
Ownership Investment Risk
tance of the project,
Though we are Management economics of the
clear that private sector Public Private Public Public 3-5 years project, social and
Contract environmental back-
participation is neces-
sary and it could bring Lease Public Private Public Shared 8-15 years drop, political and
definite advantages into Concession public interest, pri-
Public Private Private Private 25-30 years vate sectors interest
the system, it would be BOT
worth while to look in terns of invest-
BOOT/BOO Private/ Private Private Private 20-30 years ment attractiveness.
into those critical fac- public
tors which do or undo The steps in-
the partnership or the Table 2 volved would be
successful running of structuring the
it.
Objective Technical Managing Operating Invest: Invest: project for private
Option Expertise Expertise Efficiency in Bulk in Distri: participation, setting
The key factors
that could be highlight- the necessary chang-
ed are clear, govern- Service Contract Yes No No No No es/framework for
ment commitment, le- Management the project, defining
Yes Yes Some No No the terms of bidding
gal and regulatory ca- Contract
pacity, stakeholder in- Lease Yes Yes Some No No (Bid design)and
volvement, intelligent preparation of docu-
Concession/BOT Yes Some Some Yes No ments
transaction design,
cost-recovery tariffs, BOOT/BOO Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Soliciting private
the right option and a sector participa-
systematic approach Table 3 tion
The option of di- Requirement Political Cost-coverring Regulatory Good This involves the
vesture was eliminated Option Commitment Tariffs Framework Information process of inviting
as it would not be a private sector to par-
Service Contract Low Low Low Low
partnership and is not ticipate in the
covered under the pur- Management project/venture and
view of the paper. Contract Moderate Moderate Moderate Low the subsequent steps
If we may compare Lease of identifying the
Moderate High High High most appropriate
the options mentioned
above on the basis of BOT Concession Moderate High High High partner in terms of
parameters like owner- BOOT/BOO High High High High technical and finan-
ship, operations ac- cial parameters. The
countability, invest- steps would include pre-qualification, bid
ment, commercial risk bearing and period many systematic steps, but to put in general process , evaluation and negotiations
of contracts, a general matrix like the fol- it is four phases. They are project preparation, Establishing a durable partnership
lowing could be drawn( Table 1). selecting an appropriate PPP option,
soliciting private sector participation, The post bid scenario where the relation
These options could also be compared ship of 10-20 years is maintained in good
establishing a durable partnership
by mapping the objectives for which private manner keeping in lines with the spirit of
participation is sought (Table 2). Each of the above phases has its own
the contract- Award of the contact, up
importance and there is a definite sequence
The table highlights the necessity of keeping of the contractual obligations and
to be followed. In general these steps would
identifying the objectives clearly before considerate views on unforeseen events
include detailed steps as given
venturing into an option. (mutually)
Project preparation
Here are certain prerequisites for a To sum up one would add that the
public private partnership to develop and be The process from conceiving the idea success of the project would depend finally
sustained successfully the importance and to identifying the potentiality of the project on getting the different stakeholder rallying
priority of the factors as against the various and finding out the financial and economical for it, which requires a high level of
options is as shown (Table 3). feasibility of the same would come under awareness and a genuine effort for a
this phase. They are conceiving the idea or consensus. The emphasis on this point is
It is not enough that the support of
problem definition, demand assessment, because the relation ship is for 20 year where
private sector be sought for the development
financial feasibility, economic feasibility and in it is possible that governments change,
but it should be well thought out and should
project feasibility (Generally a project ideologies change and market dynamics may
be ventured into with adequate preparation
feasibility report) change but the long-term policies should
and homework. There is a definite process
to be followed for Private sector participation Selecting an appropriate PPP option remain and the commitment given to private
in infrastructure development this involves This phase would depend on the sector and public should be honoured. ±

KERALA CALLING February 2004 3 7