(LiveMint)
Kerala is looking to raise a World Bank loan to rebuild public infrastructure that has been ravaged by the worst floods in over a century, chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan said in an interview. Vijayan did not disclose the amount of money the state plans to raise from the multilateral development bank, but a state government official who is privy to the discussions said that the government is preparing a concept note to raise ₹ 3,000 crore.
“We will discuss with all international agencies including World Bank. With World Bank, we are planning to begin talks. We will start the discussions without much delay. We are still at the phase of recovering from the disaster, that’s why the discussions haven’t started yet. But we will start the talks really soon,” Vijayan said.
The Kerala floods have left a trail of destruction. As many as 384 people were killed, a million others were displaced, 50,000 houses turned uninhabitable or were washed away, 80,000km of roads and 39 bridges were lost over the past two weeks because of the floods. The rebuilding exercise is officially estimated to cost the public exchequer about ₹ 20,000 crore. The talks of an international loan comes at a time when the state is reportedly at odds with the centre for not approving a ₹ 700 crore aid from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to Kerala.
