The Government of Odisha's Industries Department and the IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, on Thursday signed a MoU to support implementation of the Asset Monetisation and Recycling Programme (AMRP) for the State.
IPICOL MD and Additional Secretary, Industries, Bhupendra Singh Poonia on behalf of the State Government and from IFC, Roshika Singh, Senior Country Officer, signed the MoU in presence of Chief Secretary and other senior State Government officials.
The IFC will support the State in screening and developing a prioritised list of monetisable brownfield State- owned assets for select sectors that can be further screened to identify and define bankable pilot projects that may be taken to market for attracting private sector investments that can eventually be used for demonstrating the benefits of brownfield-asset monetisation and upgrading State’s infrastructure facilities.
“India has a huge potential to monetise its brownfield infrastructure assets and upgrading it to international standards for meeting the demands of a growing urban population. On this account, IFC is pleased to offer its global expertise in attracting private finance for infrastructure and deep understanding of PPPs to the Government of Odisha,” IFC’s India Country Head, Wendy Werner said.
Chief Secretary Suresh Chandra Mohapatra said, “We are pleased to partner with IFC in identifying assets that can be leveraged for attracting more private sector investments in the State. This will help us bridge some of the financing gap improving and upgrading State's infrastructure.”
Notably, the Government of India’s Union Budget 2021-22 identified ‘Monetization of Public Assets’ as one of its core strategies for enhanced and sustainable infrastructure financing. Under the ‘Scheme for Special Assistance to States for Capital Expenditure,’ the Central Government is providing incentive to the States in the form of 50-year interest free loan of equivalent amount of value of assets monetised.
The asset monetisation programme would create a new source of finances and mechanism to fund development of core infrastructure projects," asserted Development Commissioner cum Additional Chief Secretary Pradeep Jena.
“Industries Department is the Nodal Department for this programme and we would reach out the each and every departments to identify monetisable assets and with help of the World Bank Group, we shall assist in structuring the projects and making it ready for transaction.” said Principal Secretary, Industries Hemant Sharma.