Private Urban Infrastructure Fund commences operations

By Our Staff Correspondent

MUMBAI, DEC. 22. India's first Urban Infrastructure Fund in the private sector announced commencement of its operations. The fund was inaugurated by Mr. Deepak Parekh, Chairman, IDFC, here today.

The Rs. 100 crore ten-year close ended equity fund has been sponsored by Feedback Ventures. The corpus of the fund is being subscribed by leading financial institutions.

The fund has been structured as a public limited company under the style of Feedback First Urban Infrastructure Development Company Ltd (U-Fund). The directors of the company and investment committee of the board, both of which are headed by Mr. S. H. Khan as chairman and which have nominee directors from investing institutions, will have powers to take all investment related decisions on behalf of the fund.

Speaking at the inauguration of the fund, Mr. Khan said there was an immediate need for quality urban infrastructure facilities in most Indian metros and towns. The issue was not so much of availability of funds as of lack of well-structured and economically viable projects. The fund proposed to bridge this gap through this innovative initiative, he added.

Focussing on medium sized projects ranging between Rs. 50 crores and Rs. 200 crores, the U-Fund will broadly target, three categories of projects, that is, water and waste water management, roads and bridges (city bypasses, flyovers, ring roads) and value added commercial infrastructure (parking plazas, transport terminals and leisure and entertainment complexes) in select States which are private sector investor friendly and hold prospects for infrastructure projects having strong economic fundamentals.

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Section  : Business
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