VIJAYAWADA: Another tranche of reimbursement of the expenditure incurred by the Andhra Pradesh government on Polavaram Irrigation Project is expected to reach the State’s kitty shortly as the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) has released Rs 2,234.288 crore to the National Water Development Agency (NWDA).
After the Union Finance Ministry had issued an order relaxing the condition set for the release of reimbursement on October 29, NABARD held a board meeting last week, and cleared the proposal to release the funds. On Friday, NABARD had reportedly released the funds to the NWDA.
The Water Resources Department officials said that the NWDA will forward the sum to the Polavaram Project Authority (PPA), which in turn will credit it into the special account created for the project by the State in a couple of days.
The Centre has so far released Rs 8,507.26 crore towards the reimbursement of Polavaram cost, with the last tranche of Rs 1,850 crore being on February 5, 2020. Of the total sum, Rs 70 crore was taken by the PPA for administrative and other expenses, and Rs 1,780 crore was remitted to the State.
Once the Rs 2,234.288 crore reaches the State, the total cost reimbursement will go up to Rs 10,741.5 crore. The expenditure by the State after Polavaram was declared a national project as of October 31, 2020, is Rs 12,522.51 crore. For the record, the State government has claimed Rs 4,002 crore reimbursement and of which Rs 2,234.288 crore has been cleared.
State likely to get balance amount soon
With the Jal Shakti Ministry pursuing the issue of the RCE of Polavaram project, the officials expect the release of the balance amount also in a few months