The Central government has agreed to release dues to the tune of ₹2,800 crore relating to the Polavaram project at the earliest. It has also agreed to consider the State government’s request to assist in bridging the revenue deficit.
Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu met Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley to discuss various issues relating to the Bifurcation Act, more particularly the Polavaram project, in New Delhi on Tuesday.
After the meeting, Mr. Naidu said the State government had sent revised estimates pegged at ₹54,000 crore of the Polavaram project to the Central government on August 16. The Central Water Commission was looking into the matter. “Mr. Jaitely also agreed to release project dues of around ₹2,800 crores at the earliest,” he said. After the NITI Aayog recommendation, the State government has taken the responsibility of constructing the project, which has been declared as a national project. The Centre has agreed to fund the entire project cost incurred after April 1, 2014, he said.
Stating that he requested the Centre to assist AP in bridging the revenue deficit of ₹16,000 crore, Mr. Naidu said, “The Union Finance Minister has agreed to consider the request.”
Referring to the AP Fiber Grid project, Mr. Naidu said the Central government would take a decision on exempting the Fiber Grid project from the purview of the GST after discussing it in the GST Council. Mr. Naidu earlier met Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari. He also met Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.
