THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Kerala’s future development in thrust areas like infrastructure will be based on public-private participation as per the development document 2030 being prepared by the state government and supported by Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia.At a special meeting of the State Planning Board held here in this regard, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy outlined the government’s aim to prepare a meticulous plan for the next two decades taking into account the global and national perspectives. He said it was important to work out public-private collaborative models to carry out big projects.The draft of the development document would be discussed with all political parties and also put in the public domain to elicit opinion, he said. It would also be sent to the Planning Commission seeking its advice and support for implementation.Ahluwalia, who attended the meeting, said Kerala should think on its sector-wise strengths for achieving projected growth rates and go in for public as well as public-private partnership projects for infrastructure development on the lines of the Kochi airport.‘’The rest of the country can take lessons from Kerala how it performed on the social service sector without any legislation but with a structure,” he said.The meeting was held ahead of the formulation of the state budget and finalisation of the 12th Five Year Plan.Kerala faces a problem as a globalised state, with higher wages. Agriculture growth in the state has gone down from 17 percent to 14 percent and it may fall even further to 10 percent. But there are areas like the higher education sector, wherein the state can emerge as a real hub in the country, he pointed out.Oommen Chandy sought a change in the guidelines of Central plans for implementation of various schemes, including National Rural Health Mission and Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Generation Programme, in tune with the state’s peculiarities.The development document 2030 is focused on such a perspective so that a change in govt will not affect the ongoing projects in the state, he said.Rural Development Minister K C Joseph, Agriculture Minister K P Mohanan, State Planning Board Vice-Chairman K M Chandrasekhar, member C P John, senior officials and others took part in the deliberations. Planning Board member E Sreedharan also attended the meeting.
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