India is envisaging an investment of $150 billion from the private sector over the next few years to develop the much-needed infrastructure projects, a top government official said. The government has also set a target to spend about $518 billion to build highways, roads, ports and sanitation facilities by 2012, said Gajendra Haldea, Adviser to the Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission. Our projections of how this money would be raised suggest that 30 per cent is expected to come from the private sector, that is $150-billion will come over the next 5-6 years, Haldea said at a conference here. While 30 per cent of this envisaged spend would come from budgetary resources, the remaining 40 per cent would come from commercialised budgets of State-run firms such as the NTPC and PowerGrid, he added. Haldea said India needs to scale up its GDP spend on infrastructure to nine per cent from the present five per cent. He said private investment in infrastructure was set for a quantum leap in the 11th Plan 2007-12 because markets such as India offered huge opportunities and higher returns on capital. Foreign companies are quite bullish, especially to invest in infrastructure in India. A fair number of Spanish companies want to invest in highways and roads. The arena is getting wider, Haldea said. Henceforth, investment in PPP public-private-partnership in infrastructure would come from developed countries because markets like India offer huge opportunities. The returns on capital are typically higher than in developed countries,” he said. Hailing the PPP model for development of infrastructure, he said India was developing four world-class airports, 40-50 national highways as well as 30-40 State highway projects through this model. He highlighted the need to create a healthy and robust corporate debt market. Source : The Hindu