Sale of govt stake in core sector projects soon

MUMBAI: It''s a piece of legislation that could finally provide the ''Midas touch'' to Maharashtra''s infrastructure woes. The state government is finalising a new law to enable it to disinvest its stake in large core sector projects, allow private parties to bid for fresh projects and create an independent body to resolve disputes.
The Maharashtra Infrastructure Development and Support Act (Midas) —as the new legislation will be called—will be announced at the Maharashtra Infrastructure Summit 2002, scheduled for November 10-12, where plans for the new legislation along with more than Rs 5,000 crore worth of projects will be announced for private participation, said sources.
The state government has formed a core group of bureaucrats headed by the industry secretary to finalise the new legislation.
Hemant Joshi, chief operating officer of the private credit rating agency Crisil, which is helping the state draft the new rules, said that a new Infrastructure Authority would be set up to oversee all basic projects for which private participation was required. The new legislation would allow both international and domestic investors to bid for state projects.
"With this legislation, the state can monetise its investments in several viable infrastructure projects by disinvesting its stake to private parties," he added.
Under the new act, a private investor can put in a proposal to start a project, which would then be globally notified to invite competitive tenders. The new act will even supercede government departments in case of any delay in processing clearances, sources said.
Some of the large infrastructure projects to be unveiled to private parties at the summit are a special economic zone in Navi Mumbai, an international airport project in Navi Mumbai and a multi-nodal hub at Nagpur.
"It may be a revised version of an existing legislation, but for the state government its impact will be drastic," sources said.