HYDERABAD: In a major boost to the proposed Water Grid programme, two financial institutions have agreed to extend financial assistance to the tune of Rs 15,000 crore for Telangana government.
Housing and Urban Development Corporation (HUDCO) offered Rs 10,000 crore and National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) has offered Rs 5,000 crore for the Water Grid programme.
Nabard has agreed to extend financial support to both Mission Kakatiya and Telangana Drinking Water Project. Chief general manager of Nabard, Hyderabad unit Jiji Mammen called on Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao at the Secretariat on Saturday and informed that Nabard would fund Rs 360 crore this year for Mission Kakatiya and Rs 500 crore for water grid during the next financial year.
Mammen told the chief minister that the drinking water supply project would be funded from Nabard infrastructure development fund as part of Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF) loan. He also assured that with government guarantee, Nabard will also bring down the rate of interest.
Starting from Rs 1,000 crore during the financial year 2015-16, Nabard has agreed to fund Rs 5,000 crore for the entire scheme.
The chief minister said that there were various irrigation projects all over the state and from each project 10 per cent of water was reserved for drinking water purpose. He said, that, once the taps were provided to each and every house in municipal and urban areas people may come forward to pay for the scheme and the amount so generated would be paid back to Nabard.
Rao further said that the strategy to implement the drinking water supply scheme was different from normal schemes. The scheme would have a component of laying of pipelines and the work cannot be split. The chief minister said that on the whole the scheme requires laying of pipelines to a tune of 1, 27,000 km and as such orders would be placed accordingly on quantum basis. The pumpsets were customised and they would be manufactured only on order. The chief minister said if need be large amounts of budget would be allocated to the drinking water scheme.
Rao also agreed to allot a piece of land to Nabard for construction of its building in Hyderabad. Rao will also meet Nabard chairman on March 17, according to an official release.