Director Finances, FAs, CAOs in J&K asked to register for PPP Beginner’s e-course

Jammu, Mar 05: All J&K officers, engaged in infrastructure planning; financing, implementation, monitoring and auditing will have to undertake Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) Beginner's e-Course.

The PPP e-course is an infra-focused capacity-building programme, jointly undertaken by the Infrastructure Finance Secretariat, Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance of Government of India and the World Bank.

In this connection, Principal Secretary J&K Finance department Santosh D Vaidya has asked all Director Finances, Financial Advisers (FAs), Chief Accounts Officers (CAOs) and Accounts Officers (AOs) of the departments, Shrine Boards, Corporations, Financial Institutions of the UT of J&K to register themselves and other officers of their departments or organizations on i-GoT platform.

They have been asked to complete the e-course training by or before April 30, 2024 and include the certificate of the course completed into their service record.

“Infrastructure Finance Secretariat (IFS), Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, Government of India envisions boost to infrastructure development through renewed private sector participation. For all stakeholders to be prepared to undertake focused interventions for directing private investment for seamless delivery and implementation of infrastructure projects, an essential element towards achieving this level of preparedness is to cultivate holistic knowledge that builds the capacity of all the partakers of a developmental ecosystem, and training on Public- Private-Partnership is one of the measures,” Vaidya stated, while explaining the rationale behind this directive and significance of this training course.

This course, as a significant step towards fostering collaboration between the public and private sectors in infrastructure capacity-building, was launched by Ajay Banga, president, World Bank Group, in the presence of Ajay Seth, Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs (DEA), Ministry of Finance, Government of India and other officers on December 20, 2023 at New Delhi.

Further elaborating on this account, Vaidya points out, “The PPP beginners certified e-course is aimed at enhancing learners’ understanding of PPPs, in terms of need and rationale for pursuing PPP; critical steps involved in project's conceptualization to commissioning; covering aspects of project structuring and developments, financing and implementation and other due diligences;
importance of key prerequisites such as- enabling policy and legal frameworks, bid process management, basic skills and capacities required for effective management of PPP processes; contract management necessities; and
varied perspectives of numerous stakeholders involved in development of project and programme on PPP basis.”

According to him, the e-course is of the duration of 7 hours and 15 minutes.

As per the official documents, the course on PPPs comprises 5 modules which covers the major elements associated with lifecycle of PPP projects, including introduction to PPPs, identification of PPP projects, structuring of projects, tendering and implementation and monitoring aspects of PPP projects.

“This will help in structuring and implementing successful PPP projects across different infrastructure sectors in the country. It is designed to be self-paced. Those taking up the course need not have any prior experience in PPP to take this course,” officials said.