World Bank Drops Chandrababu’s Pet Project Amaravati Capital City From Its Funding List

New Delhi: The World Bank has decided not to fund Amaravati Sustainable Capital City Development Project, the ambitious project of former Andhra Pradesh chief minister Chandrababu Naidu.

The World Bank's website shows the status of the project as "dropped" without giving reason. According to the website, the total project cost was USD 715 million with the World Bank planning to provide loan of USD 300 million.

The project was to be co-financed by another multilateral funding agency Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB). Beijing-based AIIB had committed USD 200 million.

Environmental activists, farmer leaders, and civil society organisations opposed and criticised this project for building the city on the floodplains of river Krishna, diverting fertile farmlands and forests, displacing around 20,000 families, acquiring lands, and allegedly favouring contractors for the construction of the city.

Promising a corruption-free government in Andhra Pradesh, newly elected Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy said he would initiate a probe into the alleged financial irregularities in the construction of new state capital Amaravati, the Polavaram project, and other schemes launched by Chandrababu Naidu.

YS Jagan alleged that Chandrababu and his benamis resorted to 'insider trading' as the former chief minister was privy to the information where the new capital was going to be located.

According to sources, the World Bank had apparently taken into consideration widespread complaints lodged by farmers in the region on alleged forcible taking over of their fertile lands by the previous dispensation in the name of land pooling for capital development.

Several NGOs and environmentalists have been opposing the previous Telugu Desam Party (TDP) government's plans to build the capital by acquiring land from farmers and protested against development very near to the Krishna riverbank.

Some residents in the vicinity of the proposed city had written to the inspection panel of the World Bank on May 25 2017, alleging harm related to their livelihood, environment, food security, and resettlement "due to the World Bank's non-compliance with its environmental and social standards in preparation of the proposed project".

The previous Chandrababu Naidu government had claimed that the World Bank agreed "in principle" to lend USD one billion for Amaravati development.

Officials who headed the AP Capital Region Development Authority (CRDA) during the previous dispensation even claimed that the World Bank included the project under retro-financing category, which meant that the international lender would reimburse what all amount the government spent on the project.

The Chandrababu Naidu government reportedly listed it under the Externally-Aided Projects under the Special Assistance Measures announced by the Narendra Modi government in 2016 so that the repayment burden would be taken on by the Centre.

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