Odisha eyes private partners to run educational complexes

BHUBANESWAR: With the state government planning to set up three mega educational complexes for tribal students in Sundargarh, Keonjhar and Mayurbhanj districts, the SC/ST department has asked the works department to engage a transaction adviser to finalize an ideal public-private-partnership (PPP) model to manage the three complexes.
These complexes will be built by the Odisha Bridge and Construction Corporation Limited, a government entity.“The state government would bear the construction costs. But as the educational complexes are not revenue models, the government is looking for private players (corporate houses) to help it in managing these institutions,” said a senior government official.
State SC/ST development secretary Ranjana Chopra has written to works secretary Krishan Kumar to engage a transaction advisor.
The state government plans to make these educational complexes world-class in terms of infrastructure, management and teaching facilities. These complexes with boarding facilities will enroll students from Class I to XII and provide best of education and co-curricular activities to the tribal children free of cost, official sources said.
Each educational complex will be developed at an investment of around Rs 250 to Rs 300 crore. Since the institutions are planned in mineral-bearing districts, the state government has planned to utilize the resources from the Odisha Mineral Bearing Area Development Corporation and District Mineral Foundation Fund to develop these institutions.
“While land acquisition is over at Baripada in Mayurbhanj district, the land acquisition process in Keonjhar and Sundargarh district is in an advanced stage. We hope these educational complexes will be ready in the next two years,” the official said.