Chandigarh, April 26: In a bid to improve efficacy of available resources and optimize the utilization of assets, the Punjab Cabinet led by Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Monday gave approval for Redevelopment, Operation & Maintenance (O&M) of Circuit Houses at Amritsar, Ludhiana and Jalandhar on Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode.
Disclosing this here today, a spokesperson of the Chief Minister's Office said that Punjab Infrastructure Development Board (PIDB) being the nodal agency of the state has been authorised for taking necessary action in this regard.
The spokesperson further said that the General Administration department intends to develop and operate circuit houses at Ludhiana and Jalandhar on Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode to be operated as Circuit Houses-cum-Hotels.
Pertinently, the General Administration department operates 10 Circuit Houses in Amritsar, Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Bathinda, Ferozepur, Faridkot, Patiala, Gurdaspur, Chandigarh and Shimla. In addition there are two Punjab Bhawans in New Delhi and Chandigarh. These Circuit Houses were developed for stay of Government Officers/Officials visiting different district headquarters for official work. However, over a period of time on account of recurrent expenditure on maintenance and updating of the facilities of Circuit Houses lead to financial burden on the state government. Further, the quality of services has also gone down significantly. High fixed costs apportioned over significantly lower capacity translates into poor economics on account of high operating expenses vis a vis the realizations.