Date:25/11/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/11/25/stories/2008112551610300.htm

Other States - Puducherry

Government, HUDCO sign pact for Thirunallar development

Staff Reporter

— Photo: C. Venkatachalapathy

PROMOTING TOURISM: Secretary to Government T. M Balakrishnan and Executive Director HUDCO K. Subramanian exchanging the documents of an MoU in the presence of Chief Minister V. Vaithilingam and Chairman and Managing Director of HUDCO K. L Dhingra, in Puducherry on Monday.

PUDUCHERRY: Infrastructure development in Karaikal region will get a major fillip with the Housing and Urban Development Corporation Limited signing a pact with the territorial administration to release Rs 146 crore to develop Thirunallar into a major tourism spot.

The government would utilise the loan to develop the temple and the town into a major tourism spot on a par with other religious places in the country. The money would be used to construct cottages, shopping malls, bus terminus, parking lots, improving pilgrim facilities inside the temple and providing a facelift to the temple.

“It is an important day for the Union Territory as it was for the first time that the administration was borrowing money from the market. The development of the Thirunallar temple town would herald a new beginning in the development of Karaikal region,” Chief Minister V. Vaithilingam told reporters after witnessing the signing of the agreement.

On Monday, Secretary to Government T.M. Balakrishnan and Executive Director of HUDCO K. Subramanian signed the agreement in the presence of the Chief Minister and Chairman and Managing Director of HUDCO K. L Dhingra.

As per the agreement, the government had to pay an interest of 13.75 per cent and the amount had to be repaid within 15 to 20 years, he said. The funding agency has agreed to provide the loan on floating interest rate basis, he added. Mr. Dhingra said they expected “softening of the interest rate in the days to come” and when the situation required it would be scaled down. The Chairman said that the agency was ready to fund more infrastructure development projects in the Union Territory.

To a query whether the government had sought further financial assistance, Mr. Vaithilingam said the Planning Commission had given an administrative sanction to Puducherry to raise a loan amount to the tune of Rs 685 crore. “We have to see the viability factor,” he said.

Out of the total loan amount, Rs 26 crore would go for acquiring land for setting up the infrastructure and relocating a school, the Chief Minister said. The Public Works Department would implement the project, he further said.