CS demands timely delivery on high-impact PPP projects through CITaG

SRINAGAR, MAY 20: Chief Secretary, Atal Dulloo today chaired the 2nd Empowered Committee Meeting of the Centre for Innovation and Transformation in Governance (CITaG) in which he emphasised uponlaying of focus on implementation of projects in Public-Private Partnership (PPP) mode after their identification by the Departments.

Those who attended includes Vice-Chancellor, SKUAST-K; Director, IIM- Jammu; Commissioner Secretary, IT; Commissioner Secretary, Tourism; Commissioner Secretary, H&UDD; Commissioner Secretary, GAD and Information; Secretary, Planning; Secretary, Revenue; Secretary, Transport; MD, JKSPDC; MD, Housing Board; VC, LCMA, representative from NHLML and other concerned officers.
Outstation officers participated in the meeting through video conferencing.
During this meeting the Chief Secretary took note of the progress made in hiring of technical resource persons for making this institution fully functional here. He also enquired about the capacity building programs initiated by CITaG to enhance the efficiency of the officers working here across the UT.
Taking note of the dozens of projects identified for taking up under PPP mode here, the Chief Secretary directed for showing team efforts and ensuring that each of them is implemented in a definite timeframe.

He made out that besides the equity from the private players and credit from 5he financial institutions the funding from Department of Economic Affairs, GoI and other relevant centrally sponsored schemes could also be explored to see these projects grounded here in the UT.
The Chief Secretary took this occasion to enjoin upon the different stakeholders to show utmost coordination with each other and took it upon themselves for making these projects to see the light of the day in a time-bound manner.
The Secretary, PD&MD, Talat Parvez presented a detailed status report and roadmap for ongoing and upcoming initiatives under the CITaG framework, highlighting the government’s resolve to build a future-ready, innovation-driven governance model for J&K.

The agenda if this Empowered Committee Meeting included updates onAction Taken Report (ATR) of decisions from the previous meeting held in the month if March, recruitment progress by IIM Jammu for sectoral experts and young professionals, deliverables aligned with the national vision of Viksit Bharat @2047 and Agenda 2030 (SDGs) and review of 57 Public-Private Partnership (PPP) projects across key development sectors.
In addition to that the Future Ready Governance (FRG) training modules for J&K government officials were also discussed in detail.

It was given out that the first phase of recruitment under CITaG has been completed by IIM Jammu. The second phase, as per the MoU, will induct domain specialists in infrastructure, social sectors (education, health), HRD, IT, data analytics, legal affairs, and environment, along with 7 young professionals.
Moreover it was given out that a total of Rs8 Cr had been allocated for FY 2025–26 under UT Capex, of which Rs7.20 Cr had been released. It was said that additional funding is expected from NITI Aayog and the Department of Economic Affairs (DEA).
Significantly during this meeting the main highlight was the rollout of 57 PPP projects with an estimated investment of Rs21,375 Cr to be taken-up through CITaG here.

These projects span 11 critical sectors, includingTourism (Heritage hotels, ropeways, eco-tourism circuits), Urban Development(parking facilities, amusement parks), Industry & Commerce (Ekta Malls, IT Parks), Transport (E-bus services, ropeway connectivity), Energy (hydropower projects), Agriculture(Food processing, floriculture, tissue culture labs), Waste Management etc.
As far as the funding mechanisms are concerned the presentation outlined two critical PPP funding models like India Infrastructure Project Development Fund (IIPDF) and Viability Gap Funding (VGF) up to 40% project cost support for select sectors like health, education, and sanitation.

Among the noted challenges some cross-cutting issues were identified that need redressal for timely execution. These constitutes delays in land and environmental clearances, connectivity and seasonal constraints at remote sites, infrastructure gaps and operational risks in tourism projects, institutional coordination and convergence challenges in many of the cases listed here.

With respect to Future Ready Governance (FRG) IIT Jammu and IIM Jammu have curated specialized training modules for government officers. These modules focus on digital governance, public policy, artificial intelligence and data analytics, and project management in a more professional and efficient manner.