Financing and Development of Smart Villages

Financing the development and building of smart village projects will require an integrative approach that is grounded in the local realities where the project resides. Utilizing pre-conceived or template-based models distorts the assessment of risks and returns creating artificial hurdles in financing. Securing financing for such projects at its core is a marketing problem. A well-articulated project plan that markets the project in a manner that the time horizons are well understood, risks detailed appropriately, path to cash flows and returns defined, and risk mitigation considerations identified is the best suited to attract capital. Project sponsors and developers need to creatively think through the economic and social risks, returns and benefits from the project and consider a range of financing instruments with features that are optimal to address the same. Hybrid financing instruments play a key role in ensuring the presence of financing or lack thereof.