Hyderabad: The state government is exploring the possibility of swapping high-cost, short-term loans with low-cost, long-term credit to reduce the burden on the irrigation sector, minister N. Uttam Kumar Reddy said on Tuesday. Uttam Kumar Reddy met with officials from the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) to get the low-cost, long-term soft loans with long moratorium periods, in view of the pressure on the state treasury to service existing high-cost short-term loans taken for irrigation projects by the previous BRS government. He also requested for a moratorium of five years on irrigation loans from AIIB at a meeting with the bank officials at Jalasoudha. If the loan terms and repayments can be rescheduled, the minister said, the government will also be able to expedite completion of pending irrigation projects and create new areas for agriculture. Uttam Kumar Reddy also directed officials to prioritise use of such loans to complete projects in underdeveloped, backward, Tribal and fluoride-hit areas, in Mulugu, Mahbubnagar and Nalgonda districts. He highlighted that the long-term loans could also benefit ongoing projects in backward regions and those under-construction in districts like Palamuru-Rangareddy, Dindi projects in northern Telangana. The minister directed irrigation secretary Rahul Bojja to arrange a follow-up meeting between AIIB representatives and the state finance secretary Ramakrishna Rao to conduct a detailed feasibility study on the proposals for loan restructuring. The meeting was attended by key officials, including the irrigation department adviser Adityanath Das, Rahul Bojja, special secretary Prashant Jeevan Patil, and chief engineers Anil Kumar, Nagender Rao, and deputy chief engineer K. Srinivas, alongside AIIB representatives Sangma Kim and Rajesh Yadav.
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