The Andhra Pradesh government on Sunday expressed optimism over the World Bank funding other development projects in the state despite dropping the $300 million funding for developing Amaravati, the state's capital city. Their optimism is the result of an official press statement by the World Bank expressing funding support for the state’s developmental projects.
The World Bank earlier this week had dropped the $300 million funding for the Amaravati Sustainable Infrastructure and Institutional Development Project. In an official statement released on Sunday, the World Bank cited that the request to drop the project came from the Government of India on July 15. The World Bank officials had earlier told TNM that the request to drop the project came specifically from the Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance.
In their latest release, the bank said, "The World Bank continues to support the state of Andhra Pradesh with over $1 billion programs that cover the health, agriculture, energy and disaster management sectors. This includes a new $328 million support to the state’s health sector signed with the Government of Andhra Pradesh on June 27, 2019,"
The World Bank also said that they stand ready to provide whatever support the Andhra Pradesh state and the Government of India might request.
Shortly after the World Bank came out with their statement, the Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister’s Office (AP CMO), in a release, expressed happiness that the World Bank would compensate by funding other important projects in the state.
"The World Bank has given enough indication pointing at compensating for the dropped $300 million loan for the capital city and directing it to other sectors, and there is every possibility of an increase in the quantum of aid," read the release from the AP CMO.
The AP CMO cited rampant corruption besides flouting various socio-economic norms and inviting project tenders before the loan details were finalised to be the reasons behind the World Bank backing out of the Amaravati project. This claim by the Andhra Pradesh CM is despite the World Bank in their release stating that the request to drop the project came from the Government of India.
The Chief Minister’s office alleged that the World Bank team that visited in 2017 found many irregularities in the tender process. "The team that found numerous irregularities in land pooling, utilisation of verdant agricultural land for other purposes, agricultural workers losing livelihood, serious environmental violations, the plan of the new proposed capital affecting the course of Krishna River and other issues," the AP CMO release noted.