HYDERABAD: Giving a major fillip to urban development in the State, the World Bank has approved a loan of Rs 1,431.91 crore under the Andhra Pradesh Municipal Development Project.

At a meeting on urban development held here today, Chief Minister K Rosaiah said that the World Bank loan would provide a big impetus to the government’s initiative in taking up qualitative works in various municipalities to meet civic and infrastructure requirements.

He directed the officials of the department to develop a separate mechanism for completion of various works under the project on schedule and wanted them to enter into the loan agreement at the earliest.

The project will support improvements in financial, technical, and management capacities of all urban local bodies (ULBs) in the State through technical assistance and as a condition for infrastructure financing.

Of the total project cost Rs 1,670.55 crore, the State Government’s share will be Rs 238.64 crore. The project will be executed over a period of five years. It will commence on February 15 this year and is expected to be completed by December 31, 2015. The project will finance works or goods to build, upgrade or improve efficiency of municipal facilities like roads, sewerage, water supply, sanitation, solid waste management, streetlighting, and community centers.

The chief minister suggested to MAUD Minister Anam Ramnarayana Reddy and the officials concerned to continuously review various works taken up district-wise and monitor the progress.

The project’s objective is to help improve facilities in urban areas across the State.

The urban service improvements will be chosen in a demand- driven manner and implemented by the ULBs.

Each urban infrastructure investment sub-project will have an estimated cost of about Rs 5 crore where 10 per cent of sub-project cost will be financed by the ULBs, which is repayable over 15 years.