Innovative PPP models in urban mobility sector: A case study of three Indian cities: Amritsar, Kochi and Surat

Developing an economy requires evolving infrastructure needs and investments. Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) have been critical and have eased the government stress of investments in infrastructure by bringing in economic development with improved efficiencies and cost optimisations. The private sector participation in India's transport sector has been majorly focusing on capital intensive transport infrastructure developments like highways, airports or ports. It is still at an early learning curve of PPP in terms of less capital heavy projects or service delivery-oriented contracts. The lessons and learnings of decades of doing road PPPs is now being expanded to other sectors like water, solid waste, as well as urban transit. The paper discusses the innovative PPP models in the mobility sector for the case cities of Amritsar, Kochi, and Surat in India. The E-Auto shift from diesel autos in Amritsar, private bus aggregation of individual operators to company in Kochi, and the women owned operator CNG auto in Surat; and the innovations undertaken by government entities by assuming the role of a facilitator, regulatory and contract manager to support private sector in filling the service gaps is documented in the paper. The paper also documents the need for a more demand responsive operation planning, better risk allocation, and balanced contract conditions to make the sector lucrative for the private sector players.