Tripura Chief Minister Manik Saha on June 19, 2026, urged the Centre to lift the ceiling on Externally Aided Projects (EAPs) for northeastern states, saying expanded access to such funding is essential to speed up infrastructure creation and economic growth. He made the appeal in Shillong at a seminar on “Leveraging Externally Aided Projects in the North Eastern States” attended by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.
Saha said externally funded projects have played a key role in Tripura’s development over the past two decades, strengthening both physical infrastructure and the state’s administrative capacity. He highlighted partnerships with the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the Japan International Cooperation Agency and Indo‑German Development Cooperation as pivotal to that progress. Citing the ADB’s North East Economic Corridor Study, he noted significant investment opportunities in Tripura across industrial infrastructure, urban development, roads, power, tourism and healthcare.
Outlining Tripura’s fiscal and economic improvement, Saha said the state’s Gross State Domestic Product nearly doubled from Rs 55,984 crore in 2019‑20 to Rs 1,00,795 crore in 2025‑26. Annual capital expenditure, he added, rose from Rs 2,079 crore in 2021‑22 to Rs 10,478 crore in 2025‑26, reflecting stronger fund absorption and implementation capacity.
Private investment is also gaining momentum, the chief minister said, with memorandums of understanding worth about Rs 30,000 crore signed in the past year and more than Rs 8,000 crore of projects already grounded. He argued the expanding investment climate increases demand for public infrastructure in industrial estates, transport, power, tourism and water resources.
Tripura is currently implementing eight major EAPs covering industrial infrastructure, urban development, tourism, climate resilience and socio‑economic initiatives for Scheduled Tribes. While EAPs are normally funded on an 80:20 Centre‑State sharing basis, Saha pointed out that costs for land acquisition, forest land diversion and utility shifting raise the state’s actual burden, making the effective share closer to 60:40.
In view of these challenges, he urged the Centre to remove the ceiling imposed on EAPs since 2023‑24 and to set future borrowing limits according to each state’s administrative capability and fund absorption capacity-measures he said would align with the Act East Policy and help the Northeast accelerate infrastructure development and economic growth.
Original Source: https://www.indiatodayne.in/tripura/story/tripura-seeks-removal-of-cap-on-externally-aided-projects-1411095-2026-06-19?utm_source=rssfeed
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Publish Date: 2026-06-19 20:54:00
