Nine private sector companies including Jindal Steel & Power Ltd and IL&FS will now be taking the infrastructure dream to rural India. These companies have been shortlisted by the rural development (RD) ministry for the Rs 1,300 crore rural development scheme called Provision of Urban Amenities in Rural Areas (PURA). All projects under the scheme are to be executed in public-private-partnership (PPP).

Rural development secretary B K Sinha named the two companies along with seven others, shortlisted for the projects - Infrastructure Kerala Ltd, Marg Ltd, Buldana Urban Cooperative Society Ltd, A2Z maintenance & Engg. Services Ltd, Megha Engineering Infrastructure Limited, Srei Infrastructure Finance Limited and SVEC.

The companies were selected through an open competitive technical bidding with rigorous qualification and evaluation criteria.

The pilot phase will begin in 15 districts where the private developer will have the flexibility to choose the gram panchayat for the PURA projects based on its  familiarity in the area and past experience at the grassroots level.

However, as the consent of the concerned panchayats and no objection from the state governments is mandatory, the selection would reflect the concurrence of all the stakeholders.

According to Sinha, the average size of the projects is about Rs. 100 crores with the total investment around Rs. 1,300 crores. Since the 12th Plan allocated Rs. 248 crores only to the ministry, the number of pilot projects could be brought down, Sinha said.

However, he said the ministry was confident that the additional funds would be organised in consultation with the planning commission and the finance ministry to take up all the projects in due course.

PURA was envisioned by former president APJ Abdul Kalam, but it failed to take off, prompting the government to restructure it for the 11th Plan. It was launched in 2003 and aimed at bridging the urban rural divide. The scheme envisages a holistic and accelerated development of areas around a potential growth centre in a gram panchayat or a group of gram panchayats in a PPP framework.

The scope of the scheme would be to develop livelihood opportunities, urban amenities and infrastructure facilities such as water supply, sewage, roads, drainage, street lighting, telecom, electricity generation, development of economic activities and skill development in a panchayat or a cluster of panchayats.