VISAKHAPATNAM: Under India’s G-20 presidency, the second G-20 Infrastructure Working Group is organising a two-day workshop in Visakhapatnam from Wednesday on how cities can leverage private finance.
The workshop is expected to be attended by over 70 participants, including municipal commissioners, mayors, and representatives of urban departments from the states of Karnataka, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Goa, Chhattisgarh, and Odisha, apart from two union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry.
Department of economic affairs, the ministry of housing and urban affairs and the International Finance Corporation are jointly organising the workshop.
In addition to discussing ways cities in India can leverage private finance to develop critical urban infrastructure projects, the workshop aims to build capacities of urban local bodies in innovative urban planning, accessing financial markets and incentivising private participation.
Eminent experts from the ministry of housing and urban affairs, Reserve Bank of India, Securities and Exchange Board of India, World Bank and State Bank of India will discuss relevant themes to augment urban financing.
On Day One Wednesday, there will be five sessions on improving civic infrastructure, discussing constraints in private financing, sharing international case studies on cities in preparation and implementation of innovative projects, and understanding the perspective of cities on their capex programs, borrowing capacity and challenges in mobilising private financing.
On Day Two Thursday, four sessions are being organised on funding and capacity building requirements of cities, credit assessment framework, way forward for cities – how different cities can avail funding, and advisory support, including global precedents.
