Govt to spend Rs 12,000 crore on irrigation projects

Expressing confidence in achieving the irrigation goals set two years ago by the Congress government, irrigation minister Ponnala Laxmaiah said the state was gearing up to spend over Rs 12,000 crore as against the budgetary allocation of Rs 10,000 crore during the current financial year.

Taking potshots at the Opposition criticism of the fate of the government's ambitious irrigation plans, the minister said that never in the history of Andhra Pradesh could a government spend Rs 6,661crore on projects during one financial year, ie 2005-06.

This was above the annual outlay of Rs 6,374 crore, and more than seven times of the average annual expenditure on irrigation projects made during the nine-year rule of the previous government.

According to the minister, two years after the Congress came to power, the irrigation department, during 2004-05 and 2005-06, released Rs 1,854 crore to contractors towards mobilisation advances for irrigation works worth about Rs 31,000 crore. It recovered over Rs 351 crore advances from them this year as works progressed.

Refuting the Opposition argument that the mobilisation advances were a drain on public exchequer, the minister said his department was even getting revenue on the advances as the amount raised by the government at 7.2 per cent interest, was given at an interest of 8 per cent to contracting firms.

Of the total amount spent during 2005-06, about Rs 5,227 crore was spent on the 26 prioritised projects. Of this, Rs 3,118 crore, which is more than half of the expenditure on these projects, was spent on works in the Telangana region alone, the minister said.