There is a saying that “if one does not know where one wants to go, any road will do”. There is also an adage that what gets measured gets policy focus and stakeholder attention.
In structuring public private partnership (PPP), these adages apply particularly strongly. PPP is a more complex method of undertaking a project, with high transaction costs, than the alternative of government organization undertaking the project itself. There are however many projects which the Public Works Division (PWD) or its equivalent needs to undertake itself. Therefore, strengthening competencies of PWDs is essential. Moreover, stronger PWD sets a higher effectiveness and governance benchmark for the PPP.
The above suggests that it is essential to have conceptual clarity about the meaning of PPP in the context of upliftment of village economy of the state of Haryana, and what is the outcome desired from a PPP project.
Mukul G. Asher is Professorial Fellow, Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore. This article was first published in MyIndMakers on 10 March 2016.