Business Line ( 27 July ) carries a report titled :
“ Niti Aayog Chief says , govt should
exit infra , jails , schools “
At a summit organized by FICCI , Shri Amitabh Kant (
CEO – Niti Aayog ) said :
“ The government has done a lot of big projects but it is not good
at operation and maintenance . Therefore , the government must start the
process of Reverse BOT ( build , operate and
transfer ), must sell out projects and let the private
sector handle it
We must bring in the private sector
That is the fastest way to bring in private
sector and bring private sector money back in infrastructure . These projects
are fully de-risked
The country needs to move into new areas
of PPP
There is no need where jails , schools , colleges should be run in
government sector . At least experience of many countries like Canada and
Australia shows that private sector is capable of doing very good work in
creation of quality infrastructure “
Dear Shri Amitabh Kant :
There is no doubt that India’s private sector players would welcome
such a move on part of the governments ( Central + States )
Private sector is better at delivery
because it is driven by PROFIT MOTIVE ( - not expected of the governments ) and
its officers are subject to INSTANT SACKING , if they fail to make profit (
unlike government servants who enjoy life-time job security , no matter , how
much losses the projects make )
Even leaving aside jails / schools / colleges , India needs $ 1000
BILLIONS in the next 10 years , just for Railways / Roads / Ports / Airports /
Renewable Power / Electric Cars ( to replace 200
million petrol / diesel cars by 2030 ) / Internet Broadband / Airlines etc
Shri Dharmendra Pradhan says , petroleum sector alone needs $ 300
BILLION over the next 10 years
And you have just cleared 6 proposals
involving Mass Rapid Transportation Technologies , such as Hyperloop , Metrino,
Pod Taxies , Stadler buses , Hybrid buses and Freight Rail Road, with a
condition that the Transport Ministry conducts trial run of all these
technologies ( - under experimentation even in advanced economies )
From where will Transport Ministry find funds
for these “ Unproven “
systems , requiring thousands of crores of rupees , and little assurance for “ Profits “ ?
Then there are NPAs ( valued at Rs 10 lakh*crore , in Coal based power
plants / Telecom etc ), haunting the banks !
Banks reeling under these NPAs , are unwilling to lend
for :
·
Untried / Untested / Un-proven technologies ( even in other
countries )
·
Restarting of hundreds of “ Stalled
“ projects
·
Take over by the private sector of Govt projects ( divestment ) , with
accumulated losses of thousands of crores , making “ Reverse BOT “ , a
difficult proposition ( even if government writes of debt and give VRS to
employees )
No wonder , Shri Arun Jaitleyji is
complaining that the Private Sector is not investing enough in the
Infrastructure Projects
Given this non availability of “ LOW COST
/ LOW RISK “ funds , I have serious doubts that our Infrastructure could
witness a quantum jump , any time soon !
The only way out is :
AMNESTY SCHEME for investment of BLACK MONEY in INFRASTRUCTURE SPVs
Here is a hint on how India
can raise that $ 1000 Billion for Infrastructure :
( Source :
Indonesia Passes
Law to Chase Tax Evaders Overseas
Indonesia moved a
step closer to hunting down tens of billions of dollars it believes its
citizens have hidden abroad after political parties agreed to seek a
parliamentary approval for a law that will give tax officials access to
financial data held by other countries.
A meeting of various political parties on Wednesday agreed to
seek the parliament approval to turn an emergency rule in
lieu of law, known as perpu, into a law at a
plenary session on Thursday, said Johnny G. Plate, a lawmaker and member of Commission
XI.
The law will fulfill a requirement for Indonesia to participate
under the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s
Automatic Exchange of Information framework.
The law will pave the way for Southeast Asia’s biggest economy
to ramp up tax collection by getting better access to information on any assets
parked in jurisdictions such as Singapore and Hong Kong.
While
a tax amnesty launched
last year uncovered more than $360 billion
Finance
Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati has estimated another 185
trillion rupiah ( = $ 14 Billion ) in tax revenue could be unlocked under the AEOI framework.
Indonesia, which has a poor tax collection rate, has been facing a fiscal
shortfall and needs to shore up revenue to fund an ambitious infrastructure
program.
It is time to look at my
proposal from an “ POVERTY ALLEVIATION through JOB GENERATION “ angle rather than a MORAL
issue ( - rewarding dishonest tax-evaders and punishing the honest tax-payers )
29 July 2017
www.hemenparekh.in
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