Hyderabad: Union water resources minister Uma Bharati on Sunday assured the Andhra Pradesh government that the Centre would obtain funds from the World Bank or Nabard for speedy completion of the multipurpose Polavaram project. Ms Bharati on Sunday met AP Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu and assured him that the Centre would take up the responsibility of funding the project works and would complete a major portion of it by 2018.
Mr Naidu told the Union minister that as per AP Reorganisation Act it was the responsibility of the Centre to pump funds to complete the works before the 2019 elections. Current flow of funds would not be sufficient, he added. Mr Naidu brought to the notice of the minister that the problems of the contractors working on the project had been resolved. He asked the Centre to release outstanding amounts to the tune of Rs 1,500 crore immediately.
Ms Bharati told him that the Centre had recently decided to take loans from World Bank and Nabard to complete pending projects including Polavaram. She would take up the issue of getting more funds released from the finance ministry. The leaders told the media that the Centre was intent on completing the Polavaram project in time.
