Srinagar: Chief Secretary Atal Dulloo on Friday reviewed the preliminary draft of Jammu and Kashmir’s proposed Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Policy, calling for a robust institutional framework to attract private investment and accelerate infrastructure and public service development across the Union Territory.
The draft policy, being prepared by the Planning, Development and Monitoring Department through the Centre for Innovation, Technology and Governance (CITaG), aims to create an enabling ecosystem for private sector participation in infrastructure and service delivery.
Chairing a high-level meeting, Dulloo stressed the need to build institutional capacity for effective implementation of the proposed policy. He said officers and officials at different levels should be adequately trained to operationalise the policy in a time-bound and efficient manner.
The Chief Secretary also emphasised that the government must lead by example in implementing the policy to build confidence among investors and the public. He directed the Industries Department to take the lead in refining the draft by incorporating suggestions received during the meeting and finalising a comprehensive policy document within the next month.
Referring to international best practices, Dulloo highlighted the World Bank’s STEP model as an example of an efficient project implementation framework and suggested developing a similar institutional mechanism suited to Jammu and Kashmir’s administrative structure and developmental priorities.
He further asked CITaG to identify a pipeline of viable PPP projects across different sectors and establish an implementation mechanism to facilitate their execution once the policy is notified.
Additional Chief Secretary, Finance, Shailendra Kumar said the proposed policy seeks to leverage private investment for creating public assets and improving service delivery. He stressed that while the policy should draw from national and international best practices, it must also address Jammu and Kashmir’s specific developmental needs and challenges.
During the meeting, CITaG Chief Executive Officer made a detailed presentation on the proposed policy framework, outlining the existing PPP landscape in the country and the need for a transparent and investor-friendly policy in Jammu and Kashmir.
The presentation proposed a streamlined regulatory framework to reduce procedural delays by facilitating timely statutory approvals, including no-objection certificates, environmental clearances and other mandatory permissions. It also recommended a multi-sector institutional mechanism with clearly defined responsibilities for appraisal, approval, monitoring and implementation of PPP projects.
The draft policy identifies sectors including urban infrastructure, solid waste management, agriculture, food processing, energy, power, tourism, hospitality and healthcare as priority areas for private investment to enhance infrastructure creation and service delivery.
It also outlines mechanisms for project identification and prioritisation, transaction structuring, governance safeguards, legal architecture, grievance redressal and institutional oversight to ensure transparency and accountability.
Senior officers and administrative secretaries offered sector-specific suggestions during the meeting to make the policy more practical and implementation-oriented.
The meeting concluded with a consensus to further refine the draft by incorporating departmental feedback before finalising an investor-friendly PPP policy aimed at boosting private investment and supporting sustainable economic growth in Jammu and Kashmir.
