CRDA expects Centre to give Rs. 500 crore for capital construction by March 31 in Andhra Pradesh.

Following the zero allocation for capital construction in the Union Budget, the State government has started negotiations with the Ministry of Finance for release of the promised funds. Officials of AP Capital Region Development Authority (CRDA) said they expected Rs. 500-600 crore to be released before the end of the current fiscal year.

Even though the Union government released Rs 1,500 crore (for capital construction) and `1,000 crore (for development of drainage in Vijayawada and Guntur) before, it did not allocate any funds this year as the State government had not spend the funds released for the drainage project.

While the state officials argued that the drainage project would have to be developed in three years, as per the agreement and that it was not possible to immediately spend the balance amount, the Union ministry officials had said that more funds could be given only after the utilisation of at least 70 percent of the funds allotted for the drainage project.

The State government has so far spent about Rs. 250 crore on the drainage project, which is 35 percent done.
“Since both the funds for capital construction and drainage development were released under the same account head by the Ministry of Finance, its officials sought utilisation certificates for all of the funds released. We have represented our case strongly, and we are expecting the release of Rs 500-600 crore before March 31,” said a senior official of Capital Region Development Authority.

Meanwhile, in the upcoming State Budget, set to be presented on March 8, the CRDA officials expect a similar allocation to their department as that in the previous year. In 2017, Rs 1,061 crore was given to the authority for capital development.

“There may not be a significant allocation in the State Budget. It will be along the lines of previous budget,” the official observed. The official however, did not reveal the quantum of funds sought in the proposals sent to state finance department for budgetary allocations.

THE NEW INDIAN EXPRESS