World Bank to fund water project in Rayalaseema, Prakasam

AMARAVATI: In a major boost to the state government’s image, World Bank has come forward to fund Rs 270 crore to take up a watershed project under Rejuvenating Watersheds For Agriculture Resilience through Innovative Development (REWARD) in Rayalaseema and Prakasam district.
World Bank had recently backtracked from extending support to the capital city project following the Centre’s objection.The opposition parties made a hue and cry about World Bank’s retreat from Amaravati charging that World Bank feared to fund due to unruly policies of the government.
A seven-member World Bank team met panchayat raj and rural development minister Peddireddy Ramanchandra Reddy here on Wednesday. After discussions, the team has agreed to consider a loan of Rs 270 crore in six years to cover backward areas of Rayalaseema and Prakasam district in the first phase. The total cost of the project would be around Rs 400 crore from which the state government would pay Rs 130 crore.
The minister and senior officials of panchayat raj and rural development ministry held discussions on the watershed project in the state with WB officials and reviewed implementation of water management, improving land fertility, standard agricultural procedures and improvement of cultivation in rural areas. It was decided to take up the watershed project with 70% from WB and 30% by the state government.
The government would implement and oversee the project with a consortium of state rural development agency, agriculture department, AP space application centre and Acharya NG Ranga Agriculture University.
The WB team said the watershed programme would involve protection of water resources in places where there is water scarcity and utilization of water resources through proper management techniques. Similarly, awareness would be created among farmers about modern farming techniques and soil fertility tests would be conducted through APSAT.
Panchayat raj commissioner Girija Shankar, watershed project director Venkat Reddy, WB officials Grant Miley, SC Rajasekhar, JVR Murty, Kasturi Basu, Ranjan B Varma and other officials were present on the occasion.
Earlier, the WB team met chief secretary Nilam Sawhney and made a presentation about the watershed project. The chief secretary said that about 25 different schemes would be taken up under the project. She said that the scheme would help drought-hit districts of Kadapa, Kurnool, Ananthapuram and Chittoor with effective water conservation measures.
The chief secretary directed the officials to take up the project by pooling funds from different agencies. She asked the officials to involve the village secretariat staff for fool-proof implementation.