Vijayawada: Germany’s state-owned KfW bank has offered financial support for energy-efficient systems in the AP government’s flagship housing programme under the Navaratnalu Pedalandariki Illu Scheme. KfW says it shall provide upto Euro 150 million for construction of such houses and Euro 2 million for technical assistance.
The offer was made at a virtual meeting between KfW, AP Housing department and AP State Energy Conservation Mission (APSECM, state energy department) on financial and technical cooperation, sharing of best practices and providing experts for training the housing staff, engineers and housing beneficiaries. Energy- efficient steps of international standards shall be introduced thereof.
KfW’s head of energy efficiency, Dr. Martin Lux, promised its support to AP housing department in project preparation/studies for houses being constructed under the state housing scheme. He also proposed finances of upto Euro 150 million for construction of energy efficient houses and Euro 2 million for technical assistance after appraisal of the project details.
A promise of support has also been made for additional financing for electricity distribution infrastructure and strengthening the reliability of the network for supply of power to houses under the housing scheme.
While thanking KfW for its interest to work with the AP government vis-à-vis the housing scheme, special chief secretary for housing, Ajay Jain, said the state government has taken up the construction of 15.6 lakh houses in the first phase, of which the work on around 10.72 lakh houses have already started.
Ajay Jain said the government would introduce energy efficiency measures in 28.3 lakh houses in two phases, under which the housing department will supply four LED bulbs, two LED tube lights and two energy efficient fans to each household to save on energy bills.
Besides this, energy-efficient streetlights and energy-efficiency pump-sets for drinking water will be arranged in the 17,000 Jagananna Colonies coming up across the state.
The housing department shall send DPRs related to electricity distribution infrastructure and related information pertaining to energy efficiency and housing data within a week as requested by KfW for the feasibility study.
KfW team consisting of Alex Heuer, Rukmini Parthasarathy, Hemant Bhatnagar, Kiran, Sangeeta Agarwal and some other officials participated in the meeting.
