Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu is proposing to mobilize funds for his prestigious project to divert Godavari water from Polavaram dam to Banakacharla head regulator by diverting surplus World Bank funds. The project is named as ‘Teluguthalliki Jalaharati’
He estimated that the cost of this project would be Rs. 80,112 crore. He is proposing this as an internal state connectivity project, not under river interlinking, without linking it with other states. As river interlinking requires permissions from neighboring states he wants to take it as an Internal connectivity, confining to divert the available surplus water to the drought line.
He has already discussed this with Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and sent proposals to the central government. The detailed project report (DPR) will be sent soon. Chief Minister has made efforts to obtain surplus funds from the World Bank with the central government for this project.
The unspent funds raised by the Center from the World Bank for various projects are estimated to be around six billion dollars. In rupees, this amount is around 51,364 crores. World Bank regulations allow the funds remaining unspent in the loan collected for any project to be used for another project.
Chandrababu has already held discussions with the Prime Minister and the Union Finance Minister on this. According to government sources, the Center is willing to allocate around Rs. 40,000 crores for this project. It is said that the World Bank is planning to provide this amount from the surplus funds. It seems that the World Bank sources are also positive about the Andhra Pradesh government.
The sources say that the Chandrababu government will complete the projects on time and come up with good ideas. The CM said that the DPR will be prepared in 3 months and sent to the Centre and tenders will be called in 2-3 months after approval.
While the Centre has given Rs. 40,000 crores, another Rs. 40,000 crores will have to be raised for the Jalaharati project. The Chandrababu government is basically thinking of implementing a model where these funds will be collected from the large contracting companies that undertake the project work and a certain amount will be paid to them every year for six months.
A large contracting company has already shown some interest and is studying it. If not through one company, the CM thinks that two or three agencies should form a consortium and raise funds.
