In his address, M L Tayal, commissioner and secretary, industries, government of Haryana, noted that states today were not able to provide either the kind or the level of infrastructure required.He said that the infrastructure demand and supply gap was widening and if the state was not able to bridge it adequately, private sector should be allowed to do so.

Tayal also expressed the view that since laws were archaic in nature, there was need to take closer look at the existing systems and procedures. He added that private sector participation has not been very significant. Commentingon the areas of priority Tayal highlighted that maintenance of assets and earmarking of funds for high priority areas were critical aspects. He also pointed out that policy changes would be required to channelise private sector flows.

Tayal cited the instance of investment not flowing into roads sector unless a system of tolls was allowed. This, he added, was a centre-state issue that should be urgently solved to enable the much-needed private sector investment.

In his remarks, D P Patra, managing director, West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation Ltd, gave an overview of the industrial scenario in the state and informed that 40 per cent of investment projects were being implemented. Patra specified that some of the industries with a competitive advantage in West Bengal included leather, electronics and Technology, floriculture, food processing and textiles.

In his address, D Sengupta, managing director, ICICI-West Bengal Infrastructure Development Corporation Ltd, highlighted the initiativesbeing undertaken by his organisation which had been set up explicitly with the purpose of supporting infrastructure requirements.

A Ramakrishna, member of the board and president (operations), Larsen and Toubro, stated that there was a clear-cut trend of states competing with each other for investment for infrastructure. At the same time, he pointed out a partnership was required between private and public capital.

Ramakrishna recommended that the government should integrate weaker and stronger networks to lower the revenue risk which was the greatest risk before investors and to increase the present traffic volume.

He pointed out that unless the government was prepared to change systems and go forward, substantial private investment would not be realised. He added that it was imperative to have a greater sense of participation of the private sector, political Opposition also had a healthy and constructive role to play in this regard, he emphasised.

R chandrashekhar, CMD, Andhra Pradesh IndustrialInfrastructure Corporation and secretary, department of infotech, in his presentation: `Making privatisation projects happen', described the success stories in Andhra Pradesh of privatised infrastructure project.