Hyderabad: The Andhra Pradesh government is eyeing a lion’s share of the Rs 50,000 crore earmarked in the Union Budget 2014-15 for urban development in the country. The state government has asked municipal commissioners and elected chairpersons of all the municipalities and municipal corporations in Andhra Pradesh to prepare detailed sector-wise project reports on water, roads, housing, streetlights, garbage and drainage and approach the Centre first seeking funding.
The Chief Minister has asked the municipal administration and urban development minister Dr P. Narayana to to even conduct training programmes for chairpersons to tap maximum Central funds as a majority of elected representatives have got the coveted seat of chairperson of urban local bodies for the first time.
Workshops have been planned for chairpersons to make them aware of the nuances of preparing project reports while seeking Central funding, and the local conditions based on which the reports will be prepared.
Municipal minister Dr P. Narayana said the first of these workshops will be conducted on August 4 in Visakhapatnam followed by August 5 in Vijayawada and August 6 in Tirupati.
“The workshops will see experts explaining to chairpersons the sector-wise reforms recommended by the Central government to be eligible for funding, parametres and benchmarks the Union government has laid down for respective states to avail funds. For example, meters should be fixed for all water connections to avail Central funding for drinking water projects,” Mr Narayana said.
Dr Narayana said the message is loud and clear to the elected representatives and the officials i.e. tap maximum funds and grants from centre for development civic, transport, environmental and social infrastructure in towns and cities.
