PANAJI: Strapped for funds to finance infrastructure projects, the State government has decided to go in for open market borrowing to the tune of Rs 250 crore to achieve 'zero balance of financial pendancy on the works side'. The decision was taken by the Cabinet which met on Friday at the Secretariat.
The money drawn will be paid back on a daily basis by providing Rs 75 to Rs 150 lakh so that the amount along with interest would be settled by the end of 2016.
As of 15 December there are bills worth Rs 180 crore, Rs 60 crore and Rs 30 crore pertaining to the PWD, Electricity Department and Water resources department respectively which are pending. Besides nearly Rs 180 crore worth of bills are pending payment with the Goa State Infrastructure Development Corporation.
A review meeting was held at the end of November by Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar and it was decided to draw Rs 120 crore from EDC Ltd to finance works taken up by the GSIDC.
Justifying the need to go in for commercial borrowings sources stated that although revenue receipts have shown an increasing trend of 10 - 12 per cent as compared to last year, expenditure on account of provisions for schemes and subsidy as well as clearing of old and new claims has shown an increase of 35-40 per cent.
It was also noted that in the last two financial years the government had identified several need based infrastructure projects which were taken up by the three works department. About 40-50 per cent of the work is complete. Finance for the remaining portion of the work is now required.
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IN OPEN MARKET TO RAISE Rs 250 CR
* The Goa govt aims to borrow Rs 250 cr from the open market
* It intends to pay back Rs 75-150 lakh on a daily basis
* Wants to settle amount drawn with interest by end of 2016
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TOURISM MASTER PLAN:
APPOINTMENT OF KPMG
SERVICES REGULARISED
The Cabinet regularised the appointment of KPMG Advisory Services for preparing a tourism master plan and tourism policy for the State at a total cost of Rs 9.7 crore.
A sum of Rs 4.9 crore will be paid to the consortium for formulating the master plan and policy and Rs 8 lakh will be paid per month for the next five years for providing programme management assistance.
The clearance was granted as a fait accompali as the administrative decision to appoint KPMG and its consortium partner Tourism and Leisure Advisory Services was taken in February 2014.
The file was subsequently placed before the finance department in July 2014 for clearance and was cleared, but the finance department took the view that it was cleared by the chief minister but not the finance minister even though the finance portfolio is held by the chief minister.
Tenders for formulating a tourism master plan and policy were floated in December 2012. Four bidders namely -- KPMG, IL&FS Infrastructure Development Corp, Deloitte Touche Tohamtsu and Feedback Infra submitted techno-commercial bids.
