Andhra Pradesh Government has decided to explore other ways to fund the Polavaram Project as the Central Government seems to be trying to delay the project intentionally in the name of approvals. The State Government has directed the Water Resources Development Corporation to reach out to commercial banks for loans.
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Once the Center released the funds, the loans will be repaid. Central Government has been sitting on the proposals of Revised Estimates of Polavaram Project for a long time. The State Government alleges that the Union Water Resources Ministry is passing the time by asking the same queries again and again.
The State Government wants to give Water from Polavaram Project through Gravity by June 2019 and for that to happen, it can not afford to let the works slow down. Polavaram Multi-Purpose Irrigation Project comes with a total capacity of 194 TMC which will irrigate about Five Lakh Acres over Two Crops Every year.
The Project will also generate 960MW of Hydel Power which is the cheapest available power in the market right now. Hence the project is said to be very beneficial for the state and is treated as the ‘Life Line’. The cost of the Multi-Purpose Irrigation Project which was initially estimated at 16,010.45 Crore increased to 57,940.86 Crore largely due to the increase of rehabilitation due to 2013 Land Acquisition Act which came into effect after that.
