Central Government releases over Rs 4,200 crore to Andhra for Amaravati capital project

The World Bank and Asian Development Bank (ADB) together committed to fund USD 1600 Million (Rs 13,600 crore), USD 800 Million each, for Amaravati capital city phase-I development, while the Centre will be contributing remaining Rs 1,400 crore, out of the Rs 15,000 crore committed by the Central Government for phase-I of the development

Amaravati: The Central Government has released over Rs 4,200 crore to Andhra Pradesh for Amaravati Capital Development project after it (centre) received the first disbursement of USD 205 million from the World Bank, a senior official has said.

The World Bank and Asian Development Bank (ADB) together committed to fund USD 1600 Million (Rs 13,600 crore), USD 800 Million each, for Amaravati capital city phase-I development, while the Centre will be contributing remaining Rs 1,400 crore, out of the Rs 15,000 crore committed by the Central Government for phase-I of the development.

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According to World Bank documents, the project became effective on January 22 this year, and the first disbursement of USD 205 million for program advance was done last month.

“Out of this total Rs 15,000 crore, there is a sharing between the World Bank, ABD and the centre. They also may have given the same amount (USD 205 million). I do not know exactly how much the has given to the Government of India. The Centre has also released its matching amount of around Rs 800 crore. So we have received a total of Rs 4,285 crore from the Centre on April 1,” the official said.

According to the official , the Centre has agreed to give 25 per cent of the total committed amount as “Mobilisation Advance” and the amount that was released is under this head. The next instalment of the committed amount will be released after the State government shows some progress and submits bills or utilisation certificates, the official added.

“That (second tranche of funds) will take time. It will take at least six months because the works have just started and in another two to three months, they will pick up,” the bureaucrat said.

On some complaints lodged with the World Bank expressing concerns over the environmental and livelihood issues, he said the World Bank has their strong mechanism for redressing the grievances, which is independent of their board also.

In fact, a delegation of six members, three each of WB and visited Amaravati last month and expressed satisfaction after an inquiry. AP chief secretary K Vijayanand recently said Prime Minister Narendra Modi will relaunch the Amaravati greenfield capital city construction in April, which will entail the resumption of works worth about Rs 1 lakh crore.

The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), part of the World Bank, which provides loans and guarantees among others, to middle-income and creditworthy low-income countries will be funding USD 800 besides.

According to the WB document, the Department of Economic Affairs at the Centre is the borrower, while the Andhra Pradesh Capital Regional Development Authority is the implementing agency.