Andhra Pradesh got enough funds, say officials

​New Delhi: The Government of India feels that Andhra Pradesh has got enough funds from the Centre during the last three years and the financial aid may trickle down in future except for projects like Polavaram "which only would get their due as promised", according to sources in the Finance Ministry.

Asked whether the promises made in the AP Reorganisation Act, 2014 and the Special Economic Package announced have been fulfilled, the sources said there was no lacunae on part of the Centre and almost all promises made had been delivered.

"What remain are the installments announced for various projects and the handholding is almost complete. It is up to the State leadership now to prudently utilise all the funds given and develop State. We are not going back on any of the promises, but only insisting on their commitments," the sources said.

On the delay in the construction of the 'World Class Capital Amaravati', the sources said, "the delay is not because of our role, either in the construction of Amaravati or in the execution Polavaram project. We have given the requisite funds and the pending ones, if any would also be cleared.

However, it is because of the State Government's dilly dallying that the pace of progress is very poor. No one knows whether Amaravati designs have been approved at all. If someone is in a hurry such a delay does not happen.

May be Chandrababu Naidu has some serious issues confronting him there or he is very particular that there should be no lacunae in the world class capital." Sources recall that special purpose vehicles had already been set up for the smart city projects in Visakhapatnam, Kakinada and Tirupati. The planned solar power projects too had been sanctioned right on time.

Rashtriya Ispat Nigam (RINL) has signed a MoU for an investment of around Rs 38,500 crore in various projects in the state. The investment includes expansion of RINL to 11.5-12 mtpa with an estimated investment of Rs 25,000 crore, and a slurry pipeline and pellet plant project, a joint venture with NMDC and others.

Delay in regasification plant coming up was also not attributable to the Centre and it was up to the State Government to speed up the process. “Projects of such scale were expected to boost country’s trade potential, apart from creating jobs but all these must be time-bound proposals, otherwise, factors like cost escalation would affect the industry,” the sources said.

Delay in establishing the food industry too was a bit baffling for the Centre, sources admitted. "If AP's progress is getting stalled, it cannot be attributed to as our failure," they said.