Development conclave on July 15

Will discuss modalities of reconstruction in a time-bound manner

The State government will organise a development partners’ conclave as part of the Rebuild Kerala Initiative here on July 15 to discuss the modalities of reconstruction in a time-bound manner, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has said.

Mr. Vijayan told reporters here on Thursday that as a precursor to the conclave, a team of experts and representatives of various agencies led by the World Bank country director had held discussions with the government’s top brass on July 3. The discussions were focussed on the development proposals envisaged by the government for reconstruction and the challenges ahead.

The conclave would be a platform for presenting the basic needs before various agencies and also securing technical and financial support from national as well as international agencies.

Key players of World Bank, Asian Development Bank. KFW Bankengruppe, Germany, Japan International Cooperation Agency, Department of International Development (DiFD), French Development Agency (AFD), United Nations Development Programme, German Development Aid (GIZ) HUDCO and such other agencies would attend the conclave.

The one-day conclave would discuss sector-wise plans and on fund mobilisation and technical support needed for various sectors.

The primary aim is to secure financial assistance at affordable interest rates and secure technical support for reconstruction. The total reconstruction cost has been pegged at ₹31,000 crore and that should be mobilised from various sources. The UAE Red Crescent, counterpart of Indian Red Cross, signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Thursday for providing a first tranche of assistance of ₹20 crore, he said.

Mr. Vijayan said the State government was looking forward to the cooperation of the Centre for the rebuilding initiative. This was despite the fact that the Centre had not provided any major support in the budget for reconstruction. The State’s demands were neglected in the budget, he said.

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