Date:21/01/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/01/21/stories/2007012104050600.htm

Andhra Pradesh

More public, private tie-ups stressed

Staff Reporter

HYDERABAD: Nurturing of Public Private Partnerships (PPP) in various sectors of commerce for the development of South India was stressed at a regional conclave on the subject here on Saturday.

Speakers at the first of its kind one-day conclave on `PPPs for the Development of South India' organised by the Hyderabad Management Association (HMA) and Madras Management Association (MMA) pointed out that neither the public nor the private sector could be complete on all aspects on individual planes.

However, the combination of both would make the country, and South India in particular, a much more profitable investment destination.

Joerg Wolff, Resident Representative of Konrad Adenauer Stiftung, the Germany-based 50-year-old organisation that is supporting the conclave, said private expertise and funds could only better the successful examples of PPPs that had already been set up by South India.

Andhra Pradesh Gas Power Corporation director M. Gopalakrishna, delivering the keynote address, said PPPs were now more relevant than ever.

However, the success of these would depend to a certain extent on tax concessions and support from the Government.

He called for a change in mindsets all around, including among management associations and NGOs, to set PPPs rolling.