Telangana to manage its assets

Hyderabad: The TS government is keen on setting up its own Asset Management Company to raise funds to support its plans of developing Hyderabad as a global city.

The TRS which swept the recent GHMC elections with “Hyderabad as global city” as its major poll plank, has promised to spend over Rs 80,000 crore in three years for the purpose but mobilising such huge funds remains a major concern as the Centre is yet to give its nod allowing the state government to secure foreign loans.

Inspired by the successful Tamil Nadu-model, which started AMC to fund infrastructure projects in PPP mode, municipal minister K.T. Rama Rao has drafted the TS Infrastructure Fund Management Corporation (TSIFMC), which would be placed before the state Cabinet for approval.

Following the directions of Mr Rama Rao, officials of municipal administration and TS Urban Finance and Infrastructure Development Corporation visited Tamil Nadu twice to study the functioning of the Tamil Nadu Infrastructure Management Corporation (TNIMC), which has devised plans to raise $1 billion to take up infrastructure projects.

Besides, the TS municipal department is also planning to replicate TN Urban Infrastructure Financial Services Ltd (TNUIFSL), which was established in 1996 and achieved good results in implementing urban infrastructure projects by extending loans to municipal corporations and municipalities based on their performance.

TNUIFSL was launched in PPP mode, in which Tamil Nadu government has 49 per cent stake, while the remaining 51 per cent stake is held by ICICI Bank (21 per cent), HDFC (15 per cent) and IL&FS (15 per cent). This has been extending loans to urban local bodies for a tenure of seven years, 12 years and 20 years.

The mobilisation of Rs 83,950 crore for these projects within three years has become a tough task for the TS government and it is exploring all options for the purpose.