Chavan asks Centre for more funds

In a bid to boost big-ticket infrastructure projects, chief minister Prithviraj Chavan on Saturday asked the Centre to designate such projects in mega cities as ‘national projects’ and provide 90% funding for them.

In a bid to boost big-ticket infrastructure projects, chief minister Prithviraj Chavan on Saturday asked the Centre to designate such projects in mega cities as ‘national projects’ and provide 90% funding for them.

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Chavan, who was speaking at the National Development Council, said projects such as the Mumbai Trans Harbour Link, Navi Mumbai international airport and Pinjal-Damanganga water supply project to Mumbai be considered as national projects. The estimated cost of these three projects together is around Rs20,000 crore.

The chief minister also asked the Centre to work out guidelines to redevelop and relocate over 2 lakh slums in Mumbai, which had come up on Union government lands. He suggested that saltpan lands be used for the relocation.

He also made a plea for pending irrigation projects, asking the Centre to reward the state with higher allocation and relaxed norms under its Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme. The government will require nearly Rs77,000 crore and at least a decade to complete all the pending projects and hence requires assistance from the Centre. Chavan also sought launch of phase II of the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal.