Maharashtra seeks $300m WB funding

RELOCATION OF IRRIGATION PROJECTS

A World Bank team headed by Asia region chief Praful Patel on Saturday met Maharashtra chief minister Sushilkumar Shinde to discuss the state's proposal for a $300 million World Bank (WB) funding for relocating irrigation projects.

The state government plans to hand over the effective management of these projects to farmers' bodies after sprucing up the infrastructure.

The meeting also included presentations by the state government on the proposed metro rail project and the light rail project in Mumbai city. World Bank aid is being sought for these two projects as well.

Irrigation secretary S V Sodal said: "The WB team is working with the state government since August 2003. It appreciated the reforms initiated in the irrigation sector by the state government."

He added that since most of the irrigation projects were as much as 20 to 30 years old, the state was seeking funding $300 million for sprucing them up before they can be handed over to water user organisations.

"As per the new policy, the state government is seeking to move out of its managerial role in these irrigation projects by effectively handing them over to agriculturist's bodies. However, several of these old projects need repairs," Sodal said.

He noted that rehabilitating these old irrigation projects includes desilting canals, repairing damaged structures, augmenting discharge capacities of canals, repairing the defunct tail ends of several canals to ensure better water disbursal and installation of measuring devices to monitor the quantity of water that will be disbursed to individual agriculturists.

The state government has cleared the proposals for constructing a 146.5 km long metro rail project that will be completed in three phases.

The first phase will cover a 36 km long stretch between Colaba in south Mumbai to Mahim in central Mumbai and up to Charkop in north Mumbai.

The other segment of the metro rail that will be taken up in the first phase includes the 15 km long Versova-Andheri to Ghatkopar rail line and one 12.8 km long track between Mahim and Mankhurd in north-east Mumbai.

The second phase will take up a 7.5 km long metro rail link between Charkop and Dahisar, 12.4 km link between Ghatkopar and Mulund. The third phase will take up the metro rail links being set up between the Bandra-Kurla district extending to Kanjumargh, Andheri (east) to Dahisar , Hutatma Chowk to Ghatkopar and Sewri to Prabhadevi.

The metro rail project will be complemented by a light rail project that will run on a elevated cable stayed networking nine metres above ground level over the existing road networks in the city.

The state government has sanctioned Rs 1,178 crore for the light rail transit system that is expected to be completed by 2008.