WORLD BANK CREDIT OF RS.531 CRORE FOR ANDHRA COMMUNITY FOREST MANAGEMENT PROJECT

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Andhra Pradesh Community Forest Management Project was signed today with World Bank for an IDA Credit of US $ 108.0 m (equivalent to Rs.531.36 crores). The total cost of the Project is US $ 127.12 m. The project was signed by Mr. Michael Carter, Country Director on behalf of the World Bank and Dr. Adarsh Kishore, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Finance on behalf of the Government of India.

The Project will be implemented in 14 districts with high poverty incidence in the forested northern, coastal and southern belts with a total of 3.86 million hectares of forest land.

The Project is a sequel to Andhra Pradesh Forestry Project which was approved in February, 1994 for an IDA credit of US $ 77.4 m. The Project closed as scheduled on September 30, 2000 and the amount was fully disbursed. The present Project will help in reducing rural poverty through improved forest management with community participation. The Project is expected to improve the welfare of participating households in terms of cash incomes and in availability of forest products including Non-timber Forest Products and firewood.