Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala has been chosen as one of the states eligible for the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) reforms incentive for the second consecutive year. The state, which has satisfied certain reform milestones published by the Ministry of Urban Development, will get more than Rs 16 crore, which it can spend for any aspect of AMRUT implementation, including surveys. Last year, it had received over Rs 15 crore, being one of the 20 states to qualify for the incentive.
The MoUD publishes a toolkit periodically to assess the reforms that a state government has undertaken. No fund will be provided to the city to achieve these reform milestones, some of which are mere policy changes. One of the milestones which helped Kerala bag the incentive was establishing the Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB). This year’s reform toolkit says that a state-level financial intermediary is important as there is need to promote borrowing by urban local bodies and help them access private capital market resources.
The state had claimed a total of 74 percent score this time. The score given by the centre after verification cannot be too different as the state needs to get at least 70 percent to qualify. For e-governance, which includes making services like birth and death registration online, the state has given itself 84 percent. One of the parameters for which the state marked 0 score was energy-efficient system. The state had to establish energy efficient pumps in water supply and sewerage. There was not enough time to achieve it.
