AP launches Rs 771-cr project for cyclone-prone districts

The state government today launched a disaster mitigation project for nine coastal districts of the state prone to cyclones, to be funded by an interest-free loan of Rs 771.5 crore from the World Bank.

The three-year project in the state is part of the National Cyclone Risk Mitigation Project-I initiated by the National Disaster Management Authority that also covers Orissa in the current phase.

The second phase would cover states like Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal. Funds for these projects would be routed through the central government to the respective state governments.

The project involves four components, namely, early-warning system, infrastructure like shelters and roads, capacity building and knowledge creation, and project management and implementation support.

Except for the infrastructure component, the funding for all the other three components would be in the form of a 100 per cent grant from the Centre. For the infrastructure segment, the state government would have to contribute 25 per cent of the project cost, according to NVV Raghava, World Bank's senior infrastructure specialist and task team leader for the project.

GAP IN FIGURES
The segment-wise amounts allotted in the present project are Rs 32.31 crore for early-warning system; Rs 637.15 crore for cyclone risk mitigation infrastructure (including shelters, roads, bridges); Rs 2.31 crore for capacity building; and Rs 34.63 crore for project management and implementation support.

This division adds up to Rs 706.4 crore, leaving out Rs 65.10 crore unaccounted of the total project cost of Rs 771.5 crore. On this, Raghava said some amount had been left unallotted and would be adjusted per the needs during implementation.