With the Cabinet approving Rs.633 crore for making the new six National Institutes of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPERs), the Department of Pharmaceuticals (DoP) will now scout for private partners to mop up the rest of the required amount to make them full-fledged entities.
Sources said that DoP would soon finalise the formulae of collaboration with the interested private partners under the PPP model, based on the models suggested by the consultant agency some time back.
Recently the Union Cabinet approved Rs.633.15 crore for the six NIPERs -- at Gandhinagar, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Hajipur, Guwahati and Raebareli. The Cabinet hoped that the amount would facilitate the establishment of full -fledged NIPER Campuses at these places for imparting higher PG level education as well as undertake R&D projects. This will help in meeting the requirement of highly skilled manpower of the pharmaceutical industry, and focus on R&D.
However, the amount is well short of the allocation sought by the Department as per the detailed project report. The original estimates for making them fully autonomous was Rs.200 crore each, but the Expenditure Finance Committee and the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) had asked for revised estimates. According to the revised DPR, the project cost including the PPP elements was around Rs.330 crore for each NIPER, sources said.
Consultants Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Pvt. Ltd. have been appointed by the Department for preparation of DPR for each new NIPER and as per the direction of the EFC, the figures had been revised by the same team.
Now the DoP would soon finalise the models for PPP. The department is considering various options of generating revenues for the new NIPERs under the PPP mode by the entire running of the institutes or leaving operations partly to the private partners. A proposal under consideration is to leave some revenue generating activities like running hostels, auditorium, guest house, recreation and sports, maintenances etc to the private partners. A suggestion also has come for full or part running of the exclusive courses under the PPP in some NIPERs.