KTR questions Musi River project cost escalation

The State government initially estimated the Musi River beautification project cost at Rs 50,000 crore and was later revised to Rs 70,000 crore. Recently, the estimates were freshly revised to a staggering Rs 1.5 lakh crore even before the draft plans are prepared.

Hyderabad: BRS working president KT Rama Rao raised serious concerns over indiscriminate escalation of the budget estimates for the proposed Musi River beautification project. He questioned the State government prioritising the river beautification project over other irrigation projects including Palamuru-Rangareddy Lift Irrigation Scheme which could be completed with less budget and effort, benefiting larger population.

The State government initially estimated the Musi River beautification project cost at Rs 50,000 crore and was later revised to Rs 70,000 crore. Recently, the estimates were freshly revised to a staggering Rs 1.5 lakh crore even before the draft plans are prepared.

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In a statement, Rama Rao said during the BRS regime, a cent per cent sewerage treatment has been completed at a cost of Rs 3,866 crores and planned the rejuvenation, beautification, and development of the Musi River at an estimated cost of Rs 16,634 crores. This includes an expressway from ORR West (Manchirevula) to ORR East (Pratapa Singaram). He questioned the significant increase in project costs, raising doubts about the Congress government’s intentions.

He reminded that the Congress criticised the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme which was completed at Rs 80,000 crore to serve multiple needs of drinking, irrigation and industrial water supply. However, he wondered what prompted the Congress government to propose Rs 1.5 lakh crore expenditure for the Musi River beautification, amounting to Rs 1.5 lakh crores.

“The government must explain the reasons for prioritising this project over other irrigation projects and also benefits to farmers, storage capacity, land extent irrigated, industrial needs addressed, and construction of new large reservoirs to store the water,” the former minister demanded.

Rama Rao felt that the tripling of the project estimated cost is evidence of financial mismanagement under the Congress regime. He asserted that while the Musi project is necessary and should be completed promptly, corruption or misuse of funds will not be tolerated. He warned that any attempts to embezzle funds will be met with strong opposition.