Other States - Punjab   

World Bank to provide fund for Punjab roads: Amarinder

Staff Correspondent

`Visiting team commended the pace of development in the State'

CHANDIGARH: Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh has announced that a World Bank team had appraised the project for constructing about 1,100 km of roads, for which it proposes to provide 325 million US dollars.

According to an official release here, the Chief Minster made the announcement after inaugurating "Suwidha Centre" and "Suwidha Snacks" in the Deputy Commissioner's office complex at Nawanshahr district headquarters.

Talking to reporters there, Capt. Singh said a four-member World Bank team led by a senior economist and project team leader, Isabel Chatterton, called on him this past Friday and acceded to the long-pending request of the State Government to sanction funds for this road project. He claimed that the visiting team commended the pace of development in the State and the improvement in the fiscal indicators. The final round of negotiations is slated for September this year and implementation of the project is likely to begin in October this year.

Poll promises

Replying to a question on implementation of the Congress party's election manifesto, Capt. Singh said that by abolishing octroi, the State Government had already implemented 65 out of the 66 pre-poll promises it had made. "The remainder, which promised a time scale of 4-9-14 for promotion of government employees, would be implemented soon."

On the Reliance issue, Capt. Singh the State Cabinet had approved the Rs.5,000-crore project of Reliance Retail Limited (RLL) and an MoU would be signed shortly so that the company could establish 350 rural business hubs to change the entire scenario of traditional agriculture. He accused Shiromani Akali Dal president Parkash Singh Badal of unnecessarily raking up this issue for his vested political interests as the latter had realised that once the project took off it would prove to be a milestone in the agrarian economy of Punjab and substantially erode the rural vote bank of the Akalis.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

World Bank to provide fund for Punjab roads: Amarinder
Remand for ex-minister's son, four others

Copyright © 2006, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu