June 8, 2007
Andhra Gets World Bank Loan
to Restore Water Tanks
Hyderabad
The Andhra Pradesh government Friday signed an agreement with the
government of India and the World Bank to launch a Rs.10.44 billion
($254 million) project for restoring 3,000 minor irrigation tanks in
the state in five years.
The World Bank is providing $189 million or 75 percent of the total
cost of the community-based tank management project as loan while
New Delhi has sanctioned the remaining 25 percent of the cost as
grant.
The project aims to improve the physical and operational performance
of about 3,000 tank systems with a command area of about 250,000
hectares, secure the safety of the tank structures and improve
on-farm water management and efficiency.
The loan agreement was signed in the presence of Union Finance
Minister P. Chidambaram, Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy and
World Bank representative Salman Zaheer at a ceremony here Friday.
The agreement was signed by Madhusudan Prasad, joint secretary in
the union ministry of finance, S.P. Tucker, principal secretary in
the government of Andhra Pradesh, and Salman Zaheer.
Chidambaram said Andhra Pradesh was the second state after Tamil
Nadu to enter into this kind of agreement with the World Bank to
rejuvenate, renovate and restore water bodies.
He said a scheme was announced in 2004-05 to restore half-a-million
water bodies in the country.
According to the minister, water bodies were created by then rulers
and many of them were natural water bodies. "Over the years they
were neglected, shrunk in size, silted, bunds were not maintained
and their channels were encroached upon," he said.
"This is a community based programme which empowers community,
increases productivity, profitability of agriculture, horticulture,
fisheries and livestock."
Rajasekhara Reddy said the tanks in 21 of 23 districts of the state
would be rejuvenated and restored under the project. He said the
project would improve the storage capacity of the tanks.
Water users' associations would be formed under the project to
ensure proper maintenance of the tanks he said, trying to allay
apprehensions that the government planned to burden the farmers with
additional taxes.
The chief minister said the project would empower the farmers by
enabling them to improve the management of their groundwater
resources, thereby enhancing agricultural productivity and
livelihoods.
The chief minister said his government planned to spend Rs.60
billion on minor irrigation in five years.
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