A key step has been taken in the construction of the capital Amaravati. The World Bank has released the first tranche of Rs 3,535 crore. These funds were deposited in the state government’s account on Thursday. With the latest release of World Bank funds, there are chances that the first tranche of the loan will also be released from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) soon.
The World Bank is lending Rs 6,700 crore and ADB Rs 6,700 crore for the capital, totaling Rs 13,600 crore. The Center is providing another Rs 1,400 crore as special assistance to AP. The Center has decided not to count these funds in the state’s borrowing limit (FRBM). The government has made all arrangements to mobilize a loan of Rs 11,000 crore from HUDCO. The state has also received a letter of approval in this regard.
Also, efforts are underway to take another Rs 5,000 crore loan from a German financial institution. The World Bank and ADB approved a loan of Rs. 6,700 crore each for the construction of Amaravati in December last year. As part of this, the first tranche of the loan was to be released from the World Bank in January this year.
However, some people wrote letters to the bank saying that this area was not suitable as a capital and asking not to give a loan. There was a delay of 2 months when a decision was taken after considering these objections. In 2018 too, the YSRCP made similar conspiracies and blocked Amaravati from getting a loan. But this time all their efforts failed.
In fact, the World Bank agreed to sanction a loan for the construction of the capital in 2018 itself. But the then opposition leader Jagan and Vijayasai Reddy conspired to prevent the funds from being received. They wrote letters to the World Bank making various allegations against the then government. They repeatedly sent emails saying that Amaravati would be submerged in floods.
Later, Jaganmohan Reddy, who became the CM wrote a letter to the World Bank stating that they do not need a loan for the construction of Amaravati. Contractors suffered serious losses as the contract agreements made in 2014-19 were not closed. 19 works like NTR statue, iconic bridge, and Karakatta road are pending. Their value is Rs. 16,871 crore.
After Chandrababu Naidu became the CM, estimates were prepared for these. Land allocations were approved for 31 companies. Tenders for the works were also finalized. The buzz of work has started in the capital. With the reconstruction work of Amaravati to begin in the third week of April at the hands of the Prime Minister, infrastructure work is progressing in full swing.