VIJAYAWADA: The financial concurrence for the Revised Cost Estimates (RCE) of Polavaram Irrigation Project is set to take more time as the committee, which met in New Delhi on Tuesday to deliberate on the issue, decided to defer it to next meeting likely to be held next month. Funds for the execution of project would be released only after the Rs 55,548-crore-RCE gets a nod from the Ministry of Finance.
Speaking to TNIE, a top-ranking official said, “The committee, which was held by the members from Finance Committee and Technical Advisory Committee (TAC), has deferred a decision on giving a clearance to the RCE. The members sought more details from the State officials and it will be discussed in the next meeting.”
For the record, the RCE was approved by the TAC in February. Following this, the State Water Resources department has been seeking that the RCE be given financial concurrence so that funds could be released, but has remained under Central Water Commission’s (CWC) scrutiny.
The release of Rs 3,000 crore interim funds, as sought by the State government, too is expected to take a little longer. Even though the State Water Resources officials claimed that the Centre was positive on the release of interim funds, the CWC sought the audit report of expenditure made on the project prior to March 31, 2014, which the State government is yet to submit.
The same was pointed out by Minister of State for Jal Shakti Rattan Lal Kataria in the Rajya Sabha on Monday. “But, it may soon happen as the State government is making a strong case for the release. Once the financial committee agrees to it, it will be sent to Ministry of Finance, which will release the funds through NABARD,” another official added.