Andhra Pradesh govt to create Capital Region Development Fund with Rs 1,000 crore seed capital

Hyderabad: Andhra Pradesh government will create Capital Region Development Fund (CRDF) with a seed capital of Rs 1,000 crore for administering the AP Capital Region Development Authority (CRDA) Act.

In the CRDA draft Bill, the government said it will create a Revolving Fund for the Authority with Rs 250 crore so that it can carry out its work under this Act and for undertaking development of amenities and infrastructure facilities in the development area. The financial expenditure for CRDA would be Rs 1,250 crore initially.

The draft Bill said that the CRDA may accept grants, subventions, donations and gifts from the Centre or state government or local Authority or any individual or body whether incorporated or not.

The Bill said that the CRDA shall manage and operate the development fund to which it shall be credited.

The Bill said that the CRDA shall maintain a sinking fund for the repayment of loans and money borrowed and shall pay every year into the sinking fund such money as may be required under the borrowing contract and sufficient for repayment within the period fixed for all moneys so borrowed.

The government will constitute Unified Transport Authority for the “Development area government Chief Secretary as Chairperson. This authority also comes under the preview of CRDA. The CRDA will assist the Transport authority with coordination and support so as to ensure the effective implementation of its transportation plan of the development area. An escrow account shall be maintained in the CRDA in which 2% of estimated cost of all projects of traffic and transportation undertaken by various departments or functional agencies shall be deposited in this account. This amount shall be utilized for research, studies and capacity building in the field of traffic and transportation apart from meeting the administrative expenses of the unified Transport Authority.