India Rural Infrastucture Report - Softcover

The report is a mine of information and can be put to good use by government departments, development agencies and citizens.

(Frontline)

The NCAER proposes three models that can be used for providing telephone services to previously uncovered areas....Insightful read. (Hindu Business Line)

The report has recommended promoting local initiatives to develop small infrastructure networks by providing incentives for use of new technologies and permit providers to recover costs by levying user fees. (Hindustan Times)

The report has advocated greater decentralization of regulation and ownership, greater reliance on user fees to recover costs...and greater use of micro-finance to build demand for services. (The Hindu)

Based on primary data collected through a nationwide survey, the report aims to resolve some of the contradictions that have stymied the expansion of infrastructure in rural India with the aim of encouraging balanced regional growth of rural infrastructure. It proposes

- Forming public-private partnerships

- Greater decentralisation of regulation and ownership

- Greater reliance on user fees to recover costs

- Greater use of microfinance

This is a definitive report on the state of rural infrastructure in the four major sectors of power, telecommunications, roads and transport, and water and sanitation. Given that the solutions to rural infrastructure problems are necessarily going to be unique in rural areas, where people are already underserved, this study focusing on rural infrastructure is valuable in that it advocates for new financing methods; attracting new players to provide services; adopting new policies to support privatisation and decentralisation of infrastructure services. In sum, it outlines a financially sustainable and inventive new approach.