Centre releases over ₹4,200 crore to Andhra for Amaravati capital project

World Bank and ADB to fund ₹13,600 crore for Amaravati phase-I, contributing ₹800 crore each, while the Centre will provide the remaining ₹1,400 crore of the ₹15,000 crore total commitment

The Central Government has released over ₹4,200 crore to Andhra Pradesh for Amaravati Capital Development project after it (centre) received the first disbursement of $205 million from the World Bank, a senior official has said.

The World Bank and Asian Development Bank (ADB) together committed to fund $1600 Million (₹13,600 crore), $800 Million each, for Amaravati capital city phase-I development, while the Centre will be contributing remaining ₹1,400 crore, out of the ₹15,000 crore committed by the Central Government for phase-I of the development.

According to the World Bank documents the project became effective on January 22 this year and the first disbursement of $205 million for program advance was done last month.

"Out of this total ₹15,000 crore, there is a sharing between the World Bank, ABD and the centre. The also may have given same amount. I do not know exactly how much the has given to the Government of India. The Centre has also released its matching amount of around ₹800 crores. So we have received a total of ₹4,285 crore from the Centre on April 1, the official told PTI.

According to the official , the Centre has agreed to give 25 per cent of the total committed amount as "Mobilisation Advance" and the amount that was released is under this head.

The next instalment of the committed amount will be released after the state government shows some progress and submit bills or utilisation certificates, the official added.

"That (second tranche of funds) will take time. It will take at least six months, because the works have just started and in another two to three months they will pick up," the bureaucrat said.

On some complaints lodged with the World Bank expressing concerns over the environmental and livelihood issues, he said the World Bank and have their own strong mechanism for redressing the grievances which is independent of their board also.

In fact, a delegation of six members, three each of WB and visited Amaravati last month and expressed satisfaction after an inquiry.

AP chief secretary K Vijayanand recently said Prime Minister Narendra Modi will relaunch Amaravati greenfield capital city construction in April, which will entail the resumption of works worth about ₹1 trillion.

The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), part of the World Bank which provides loans and guarantees among others, to middle-income and creditworthy low-income countries will be funding $800 besides.

According to the WB document , the Department of Economic Affairs at the Centre is the borrower while the Andhra Pradesh Capital Regional Development Authority is the implementing agency.