The Andhra Pradesh government's attempt to secure a loan in the current financial year to build its capital Amaravati, is seemingly in trouble as the Centre is reportedly sitting on the state's request for permission.
Reporting for the Times of India, Krishna Prasad writes:
With only six months left for the financial year to close, the state government is making all out efforts to secure the Centre's approval to borrow at least Rs 25,000 crore from World Bank an other funding agencies. The state government had submitted details of 13 projects to the Centre seeking its nod to avail of loan from the foreign banks.
The report adds that the state needs Rs 37,778.80 crore for the projects, out of which external funding agencies will have to provide Rs 26,253.71 crore.
"The department of economic affairs is examining the proposals sent by the state government. We last heard that it has sought details from departments. We are hopeful of securing early approval for the projects," Ajey Kallam, special chief secretary of finance department, told TOI.
This comes soon after reports that Centre reportedly cut down the quantum of loan that the state wanted from the World Bank by half.
PTI reported that the Department of Economic Affairs (DEA) under the Union Ministry of Finance has now reduced the loan amount from 1 billion USD to 500 million USD only.
"The DEA had given in principle approval for 1 billion USD loan but subsequently realized that rules did not permit the quantum in a single tranche. Accordingly, the loan proposal was cut down by half," a top official overseeing the issue told the news agency.