GOING ONLINE: Chief Minister Jayalalithaa with Michale Carter, Country Director, World Bank, India, at the inauguration of a web site on "Emergency Tsunami Reconstruction Project" in Chennai on Wednesday. — Photo: S.R. Raghunathan

CHENNAI: Chief Minister Jayalalithaa on Wednesday launched the World Bank-assisted Rs.1, 852.74 crores "emergency tsunami reconstruction project." The project is expected to be completed by the end of October 2007.

The project involves the construction of homes and common amenities and the provision for livelihood. Ms. Jayalalithaa unveiled a plaque signalling the commencement of the project. The World Bank Country Director, India, Michael F. Carter, launched a website exclusively to monitor the progress of the reconstruction efforts: www.tn.gov.in/etrp.

The project has five major components. These are housing reconstruction at an outlay of Rs.1551.4 crores, restoration of livelihood at an outlay of Rs.122.2 crores, repair and reconstruction of infrastructure at an outlay of Rs. 85.41 crores, technical training at an outlay of Rs. 41.17 crores and implementation support at an outlay of Rs. 52.56 crores.

Record sanction

A press release said that the Chief Minister thanked Mr. Carter for the record sanction of three new projects by the Bank — the Tamil Nadu Health Systems Project, the Tamil Nadu Urban Development Project - 3 and the Tamil Nadu Empowerment and Poverty Reduction Project.

Ms. Jayalalithaa said that maximum importance should be given to crop diversification based on efficient utilisation of water and hence the water resources consolidation project - 2 should be given priority. This project will modernise the irrigation systems in each basin and provide new growth momentum for the farm sector. Ms. Jayalalithaa requested Mr. Carter to facilitate early clearance for this project.

The Chief Minister also wanted the Tamil Nadu Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Project cleared immediately. The project has been finalised.

Mr. Carter said later that the Bank's engagement with Tamil Nadu was substantial. Of the $ 3 billions earmarked for projects in India, a majority went to projects in States that had progressed a great deal. The States that lagged behind did not get a very large share of the development loans.

Two reasons

"There are two reasons for that. The first is the capacity problems ... The other is [that] the actual change in the composition of our lending programme does take some time because the projects that we finance take more than two years to prepare. Hence, 2008 is when you will see a substantial shift towards the poorer States ... But we are not going to do this shift thoughtlessly. We are going to make sure that this is based on a good prospect that there can be satisfactory implementation," Mr. Carter said .

Mr. Carter said that the Bank tried to work closely with some of the States that lagged behind in development and helped them build capacities recognising that this will be a long-term effort.

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