The Andhra Pradesh government suffered a major setback in the development of Amaravati with the World Bank (WB) purportedly backing out of Amaravati Sustainable Infrastructure and Institutional Development Project (ASIIDP) to which it had committed to lend $300 million, a few days before the bank’s inspection panel is scheduled to submit its report.
The total project cost is $715 million. The project status is shown as “dropped” on the bank’s website.
The withdrawal of its commitment by the World Bank to ASIIDP came at a time when an expert committee formed by the government is in the process of reviewing major projects, including those awarded in the capital city.
The scope of study by the State committee covers all estimates, contracts awarded and projects/works at various stages, including those of the CRDA. The committee has been mandated to recommend a mechanism for reverse tendering, wherever possible. The ASIIDP project is intended to provide select urban infrastructure in designated locations in Amaravati for supporting initial development of its institutional and governance structure. The project components are integrated urban infrastructure and services, climate resilience infrastructure, citizen benefit sharing, institutional and fiscal development and project management and implementation support.
Complaints by farmers against the irregularities in ‘land pooling’ which the TDP government claimed to be one of the few such models in vogue, at public hearings conducted by WB team in 2016-17 apparently threw a spanner in the project.
