TUFIDC scouting for agency to help finance ₹1,500 crore civic works in urban bodies
Five consultancy firms have attended the pre-bid meeting of the Telangana Urban Finance Infrastructure Development Corporation (TUFIDC) to select an agency to provide 'transaction advisory services for bankable projects' in urban areas in Telangana.
The institute under the Department of Municipal Administration and Urban Development is looking for an agency that can help source funds to the tune of up to ₹1,500 crore at a low rate of interest for funding basic civic infrastructure works in the 130 municipalities outside the Outer Ring Road (ORR).
The civic amenities
Commissioner and Director of Municipal Administration T.K. Sreedevi informed that the government wants to make use of the funds, mostly likely to be sourced from local development banks or multilateral agencies, for taking up key civic amenities like sewerage network, internal and connecting roads, drinking water supply, waste management system, streetlights and so on.
'We have seen big ticket real estate projects grounded even before the local municipal authorities were ready with the necessary civic infrastructure with basic amenities. Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy is keen to change this and make the newbie urban and semi-urban local bodies ready for future urban growth,' she explained.
Development of bankable projects is crucial to bridge the growing infrastructure financing gap with sustainable growth. But the traditional funding sources like budget allocations are not sufficient. Hence the lookout for alternate funding method, it was pointed out.
The department is looking for a specialised agency with five years experience in handling two urban development infrastructure projects like water supply, sewerage, lake or water body redevelopment or conservation, solid waste management and others, worth at least ₹100 crore.
Tasks of the selected agency
The selected agency will have to look at bankable projects covering financial modelling, evaluate identified projects, help in selection of a developer, provide project management and monitoring support. The term of contract will be for three years with the method of evaluation being a four stage process.
Bid to be opened on June 16
Through the agency, the government also intends to tap the funds from the ₹1 lakh crore Urban Challenge Fund (UCF) announced by the Centre in the budget for taking up civic infrastructure works in the municipal areas. The fund has 25% grant, 50% is to be sourced through a public private partnership (PPP) mode/ bank loans and 25 % from the local municipal authority or State government, making it ripe for seeking monies which hitherto was mostly from loans, pointed out Ms. Sreedevi. The final bids for selecting the agency will be opened on June 16.
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