Offer long term loans for irrigation projects: Gadkari to banks

Union minister Nitin Gadkari today called on banks and multilateral institutions to come forward with long-term loans at nominal interest rates for financing irrigation and river linking projects.
These projects will cost between Rs 3 lakh and Rs 5 lakh, the Water Resources minister said.
Gadkari, who is the Minister for Road Transport & Highways, Shipping and Water Resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation, made the remarks while delivering the keynote address at the third annual meeting of Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank here, according to an official statement.
Noting that many parts of the country are facing shortage of water, Gadkari said the problem could be solved by diverting water from water surplus basins by inter-linking rivers. He also stressed on checking wastage of water that flows into sea.

The governments priority is to stop the wastage of nearly 3,000 TMC of Godavari water and transfer it to water-starved Cauvery basin, he added.
The Polavaram project in Andhra Pradesh is among the priority project, he said.
For these and other such projects the government needs low interest loan, the statement quoted Gadkari as saying.