The Karnataka rural water supply and sanitation (KRWSS) project will get Rs 700 crore as part of a long-term World Bank loan programme. An agreement to this effect was signed recently by representatives from the central government, Karnataka state government and the World Bank.
The finance will help to scale up the ongoing second KRWSS project, approved in 2001, to another 1,650 villages, covering an additional four million people. The additional finance will also help the government focus on improving the quality of water supply.
The credit is from the International Development Association (IDA), the World Bank’s concessionary lending arm, which provides interest-free loans with 35 years maturity and a 10-year grace period.
"The results of these projects on the ground have demonstrated a way for the Government of Karnataka to successfully decentralise the rural water supply and sanitation services," said Oscar Alvarado, World Bank’s senior water & sanitation specialist and project team leader.
The signatories to the agreement were Anup K Pujari, joint secretary, government of India, P Ravi Kumar, principal secretary - rural development and Panchayat Raj department, government of Karnataka and Ben Eijbergen, sector coordinator, infrastructure and lead transport specialist, World Bank, India.