Tamil Nadu seeks more World Bank aid for road project

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa Monday requested increased assistance of $500 million for a road project from the World Bank during a meeting here with bank president Jim Yong Kim.

Kim called on Jayalalithaa at the state secretariat, said a government statement.

During the meeting, Jayalalithaa said the preliminary work for the second phase of the Tamil Nadu Road Sector Project was over and the project was being appraised shortly.

She said private capital will be leveraged in a bigger way for the project through the public-private-partnerships (PPP).

Jayalalithaa expressed concern that the bank's funding for the project may be restricted to only $300 million, and requested for increased assistance of $500 million, saying the state's contribution will be higher.

Onno Ruhl, the country director for World Bank in India, promised to take up the issue of additional funding with the finance ministry.

He also said the follow-up projects - Irrigated Agriculture Modernisation and Water Bodies Restoration and Management (IAMWARM), the Pudhuvazhvu (New Life) project for rural livelihoods and Tamil Nadu Sustainable Urban Development Project-IV - would be cleared within 12 months.

Jayalalithaa also assured the World Bank officials that the Dam Rehabilitation and Improvement Project and the Tamil Nadu Coastal Disaster Risk Reduction Project would be completed on schedule.