Meghalaya to seek Rs 1500 crore loan for infra development

SHILLONG: The Meghalaya government will avail a loan of Rs 1,500 crore under the NABARD Infrastructure Development Assistance (NIDA) for infrastructural development work, official sources said on Wednesday.

The State Cabinet on Tuesday has approved the proposal to avail the loan.

“These are important investments that the state government is making and more importantly these are funds that come after a detailed calculation is being made by NABARD and only the amount that the state deserved we will get,” Chief Minister Conrad Sangma said.

He said the financial assistance under NIDA is based on the overall revenue earning capacity of the state and calculation is accordingly made by NABARD.

This is a loan component that is used for infrastructural development work but it does not come into the budgetary provision of the state government, it is implemented through the public sector undertaking,” Sangma said.

The Chief Minister further informed that the state government is going to take up various infrastructural developments under the NIDA funds that include infrastructure for the over 40 plus community and rural development blocks.

“We are going to budget some Rs 100 crore for the lower primary schools, we will also be budgeting money for administrative blocks, wherever it is required, administrative units like civil subdivision buildings, Deputy Commissioner offices, Superintendent of Police – all these administrative buildings will be done with this fund,” he said.

He said the government also intends to invest in police stations as they have been neglected for a very long time.

“With the NIDA fund, we will see development and infrastructure improvement throughout the spectrum,” he added.