The state owned Housing and Urban Development Corporation Limited (HUDCO) has decided to provide loans worth Rs. 500 crore to upgrade the infrastructure of cities across the state. The funds would be invested to complete the delayed projects including flyovers, water treatments and homes for the poor masses of Kolkata and areas lying in its vicinity, Principal Secretary, UDM, Dipankar Mukhopadhyay said.

He said adding that the proposed HUDCO interest rate is lower than the prevailing rates of 9 to 10 per cent at which the state is currently borrowings from the market. The Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority, an arm of the state’s urban development department, has estimated the cost at Rs. 500 crore, however the delay was largely because of problems with land acquisition.

The loan will carry interest rate of 7.5 per cent and it maybe brought down to 7 per cent as lot of underprivileged population would reap the benefit from the projects, stated Executive Director, D Subrahmanyam.

The cost escalation in the urban development department’s projects is estimated to be around Rs. 400 crore. The Kolkata Municipal Corporation, which is renovating city’s underground sewage with the modernization funds, estimated that the cost has gone up by about Rs. 100 crore. In addition, the government is facing difficulty in implementing projects in districts such as North 24 Parganas, south 24 Parganas and Howrah and also work on several flyovers in the Kolkata metropolitan city has been delayed because of land acquisition problems plaguing the state.