The Asian Development Bank (ADB), which is financially assisting the multi-crore projects of the Kerala Sustainable Urban Development Project (KSUDP), has extended the loan period by two years.
The government is in receipt of the June 18 order of the ADB extending the loan period by another two years till June 30, 2016, Minister for Urban Affairs Manjalamkuzhi Ali told The Hindu .
With this, the Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Kochi, Thrissur, and Kozhikode Corporations have got another two years to complete the unfinished projects, mainly relating to sewerage, totalling Rs.600 crore.
The “breather” was on the basis of detailed site reviews on the progress of works in the five Corporations for six days from April 22 by the ADB Review Mission headed by Senior Project Officer (Urban) Pushkar Srivastava.
The mission held discussions with Mr. Ali, Chief Secretary E.K. Bharat Bhushan, Local Self-Government Principal Secretary James Varghese, Urban Affairs Secretary A.P.M. Mohammed Hanish, and Project Director U.V. Jose.
The Department of Economic Affairs of the Union government has approved the decision of the ADB to extend the loan period, official sources said.
The mission was “generally satisfied with progress of the works” and was of the view that “the entire projects can be completed if extension is given.”
The government has given a commitment that all the works awarded till date will be completed by June 2016 by taking the projects as “State priority and monitored at the highest level,” sources said.
The $221.20 million KSUDP loan for designated projects in urban infrastructure was approved on December 20, 2005, and became effective on March 19, 2007. The original loan closing date was June 2012, and it was later extended till June 2014.
A partial loan cancellation of $25 million was effected on August 6, 2013, reducing the net loan to $196.2 million. A total contract award of $154.28 million and disbursement of $91.02 million has been achieved by the KSUDP as on date, sources said.
