The public private partnership (PPP) model, which has met with success in many areas including telecom, airports, seaports and metro rail, is now getting into the arena of social infrastructure. For the first time, the Centre is rolling out a PPP model for upgrading high-end educational infrastructure in the country.
To start with, the model will see state-of-the-art student hostels being set up at marquee institutions like IITs and IIMs by pooling in investments and management skills from the private sector. There will be viability gap support from the government.
According to official sources, earlier this month, the PPP model was approved for building and running multiple hostels in three top educational institutions—IIT Madras, IIM Udaipur and IIIT Nagpur—which would set a template for more such projects.
Even though India has many world-standard education institutions in terms of the quality of faculty and learning outcomes, these still lag when it comes to student infrastructure and amenities.
New-age infrastructure to be created under PPP will meet the gap in accommodation facilities due to an increase in student intake in the existing courses and the new ones at leading institutions. The concessionaire will have 22-30 years to manage the hostels by collecting user charges from students with the tariff fixed by the institutes. The annual escalation in tariff would be 4%.
All three project proposals approved recently differ in nature. The IIM-Udaipur hostel facilities will cater to postgraduates, PhD candidates, and executives, while the IIT Madras facilities are intended for PhD candidates and project staff. In contrast, the IlIT Nagpur hostel will primarily serve undergraduates. The IIIT Nagpur facility would offers double occupancy, whereas the others are designed for single occupancy. Additionally, the proposed fees for lIT Madras are based on the House Rent Allowance (HRA) currently provided to PhD candidates and project staff.
“Currently, hostels are run by the institutes with canteen, cleaning and other services outsourced to multiple parties and often lack quality in service quality. The PPP model would have the skin of the private party in the game and is expected to better services as revenues are linked to service delivery,” a senior official said.
IIT Madras Rs 397 crore project will be undertaken in design, build, finance, operate and transfer (DBFOT) mode with a 30-year concession period, including 1.5 years for construction. The project consists of two key components: Vaigai Hostel, with 1,208 rooms including 820 single occupancy rooms, 360 double occupancy rooms, 14 guest rooms, 10 PWD rooms, and 4 office rooms, all within a G+11 structure; and Sarayu Hostel, with 270 rooms with 222 single occupancy rooms, 40 double occupancy rooms, 2 guest rooms, 2 PWD rooms, and 4 office rooms, also in a G+11 structure. The concessionaire will be responsible for financing, infrastructure design, construction, building maintenance, housekeeping, and asset replacement for all hostels. IIT Madras will be responsible for food and beverages, utilities, and fixing user charges. The concessionaire will collect user charges directly from the students.
IIM Udaipur’s Rs 100.4 crore project consists of three key components: a student hostel to accommodate 150 students on a single occupancy basis across three blocks each with a G+5 structure and an additional block for dining; a married student Hostel for 30 students (with preference for PhD students) on a single occupancy basis, developed as a single G+5 structure; and an Executive Hostel with 100 rooms, 10 suite rooms, 4 classrooms, 4 breakout rooms, a conference room, dining hall, administrative offices, kitchen, and indoor sports area. The concessionaire will be responsible for financing, infrastructure design, construction, building maintenance, housekeeping, and asset replacement for all hostels. IIM Udaipur will be responsible for food and beverages, utilities, and fixing user charges.
The IIIT Nagpur’s Rs 87.5 crore project consists of one hostel with 550 rooms on double occupancy in a G+10 structure with facilities like common toilets, dining areas, warden office, lobby, laundry rooms, medical and storerooms, gym, indoor and outdoor sports facilities, fire control, and associated external infrastructure (such as STP, WTP, and power stations). The concessionaire will be responsible for financing, infrastructure design, construction, building maintenance, housekeeping, utilities, F&B and asset replacement for the hostel. IIIT Nagpur will be responsible for fixing user charges.
Even though the IIM Udaipur and IIIT Nagpur project costs were below the Rs 250 crore threshold for consideration by the Public Private Partnership Appraisal Committee (PPPAC) chaired by the economic affairs secretary for granting approval and viability gap funding, the PPPAC made an exception as these are first-of-its-kind projects with no precedence in the education sector.