Kerala to tap Nabard in its Rs 3,000-cr capex odyssey

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Thiruvananthapuram, May 21: Kerala finance minister Thomas Isaac targets to push capital expenditure component in the state's revenue books by a whopping Rs 1,500 crore by next fiscal. For this, more funds will be harnessed from outfits like Nabard and through thrust for public-private participation projects.

From Rs 950 crore in the previous fiscal, the capital expenditure was raised to Rs 1,506 crore in 2008-2009. But even now, this is only 1% of the overall revenue spending. By targetting to push it to 2% of revenue expenditure, capital expenditure would be upped to over Rs 3,000 crore, Isaac said.

In the current fiscal, Nabard had pumped Rs 750 crore into the completion of few half-done irrigation projects in Kerala and Rs 250 crore into modernisation of fishing harbours in the state. This is the first time that Nabard is putting its money into anything that is not a fresh project. As these were not factored into the current year's state budget, the funds for infrastructure spending proved a windfall gain for Kerala's fiscal managers.

More of Nabard's funding window will be tapped in future as the state is scouting for support in land acquistion of Kannur international airport and Kozhikode airport. Simultaneously, VAT buoyancy also needs to be whipped up, he said.

The capital expenditure focus, sharpened on the LDF government's second anniversary, will not dilute its social expenditure, Isaac said.

Welfare pension arrears are under distribution. Posts in government will be sanctioned, wherever they are unavoidable.