Thiruvananthapuram: Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Wednesday said the total loss in major sectors in the recent floods came to around Rs 25,050 crore.
The loss has been calculated as part of Rapid Disaster Need Assessment carried out by World Bank and Asian Development Bank teams that had visited the flood affected districts recently. The loss in important sectors is as follows; housing Rs 2,534 crore, urban infrastructure facilities 2,093 crore, rural infrastructure facilities Rs 5,216 crore, irrigation and drinking water distribution - 1,484 crore, electricity – Rs 353 crore, transport - Rs 8,554 crore, health – Rs 280 crore, loss of livelihood means including in tourism sector - Rs 3,801 crore.
The Chief minister said about Rs 400 crore would be required to procure land for constructing houses. If such costs are factored in, the loss would go much beyond WB-ADB assessment. He said the biggest challenge before the government was to mobilise financial resources for rebuilding Kerala.
The Chief Minister and ministers would be touring foreign countries from October 17 to 21. The CM will spend three days in UAE. A.K.Balan - Saudi Arabia, Mathew T. Thomas - Saudi Arabia, Netherlands, A.C. Moideen - Oman, M.M. Mani -Bahrain, E.P. Jayarajan -Kuwait , E. Chand0-rashekharan -Singapore, P. Thilothaman - Malaysia, J. Mercykutty Amma - Australia, Kadanapally Ramachandran -New Zealand, Kadakampally Surendan - UK, Thomas Isaac -USA, V.S. Sunil Kumar -Canada, G. Sudhakran - USA and T.P. Ramakrishnan - Sri Lanka.
The Chief Minister had recently sought the PM’s intervention in raising the external borrowing limit of the state which is currently 3 per cent of gross state domestic product to 4.5 per cent in the current financial year. And next year it should be fixed at 3.5 per cent.
He had also demanded 10 per cent increase in allocation for centrally sponsored schemes being implemented in the state.
Besides, the state had also sought a special grant of '5,000 crore from Centre. The government aims to raise Rs 2,000 crore by slashing the annual plan outlay. This money will be utilised for rebuilding.
