Union Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary has clarified that the loans taken from the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank for the construction of the capital Amaravati will not come under the Andhra Pradesh FRBM limit. He told Parliament that it has been decided not to count these loans against the Andhra Pradesh debt limit.
Minister Pankaj Chaudhary was replying in writing to a question asked by a YSRCP member in the Lok Sabha Dr Gurumurthy on Monday. He also reminded that Rs. 2,500 crore has been given under special assistance grants for essential infrastructure in the capital Amaravati area so far.
He explained that assistance has been provided for the approval of loans of Rs. 6,700 crore each from the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank for the Amaravati Integrated Urban Development Program and the Amaravati Integrated and Sustainable Capital City Development Programs, including statistics as an example.
Panjak Chaudhary also said that the World Bank loan has come into effect from January 22 this year, and the Asian Development Bank loan from February 10 this year. However, the disbursement of these loans has not been done yet. He said that it has also been decided to provide a maximum of Rs. 1,500 crore as a special grant to Andhra Pradesh, not exceeding 10 percent of the total cost of the current project
In his written reply, the Union Minister of State for Finance stated that the utilization of funds will be monitored according to the guidelines and conditions formulated while sanctioning the loan. The coalition government led by Chandrababu Naidu, which came to power in the state last year, has taken steps to build the capital Amaravati and the state’s lifeline Polavaram project. As part of that, it has taken steps to build the capital Amaravati and state’s `life line’ Polavaram project.
It has also taken steps to obtain funds from the World Bank and loans from the Asian Development Bank. All the agreements related to that have already been finalized. On the other hand, Prime Minister Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and many Union ministers have already reiterated that they are committed to the development of AP.
Moreover, during the previous YSRCP regime, they announced three capitals for the state and pushed the development of the state to the brink. In this context, the coalition government led by CM Chandrababu Naidu is taking strategic steps for the development of AP.