Team Goemkarponn
PORVORIM: The Goa government informed the Legislative Assembly on Monday that it intends to avail loans worth between ₹4,500 crore and ₹5,000 crore in the next financial year under the Centre’s Special Assistance for Capital Investment scheme, which provides funds with a 50-year interest-free repayment period.
Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said the State had already utilised ₹4,148 crore this year under the scheme to finance capital expenditure and infrastructure works. He indicated that the government would continue to rely on this mechanism to support development initiatives.
Sawant also noted that the State had borrowed only ₹1,250 crore from the open market during the current year despite having a borrowing ceiling of ₹4,500 crore. For the coming year, he said the government plans to raise about ₹1,000 crore from the market.
Citing fiscal indicators, the Chief Minister said Goa ranks third in the country in fiscal management according to NITI Aayog assessments. He added that the State’s debt-to-GSDP ratio, which had earlier approached 30 per cent, has now been reduced to around 27 per cent and is expected to decline further to about 25 per cent.
However, Opposition members expressed concern about the State’s overall debt levels. AAP MLA Venzy Viegas pointed out that Goa’s outstanding liabilities have increased sharply over the past several years, rising from roughly ₹16,000 crore to nearly ₹35,000 crore in about nine years.
Viegas further observed that the State is projected to repay around ₹3,600 crore in debt this year, and the annual repayment obligation could climb to nearly ₹4,300 crore by the financial year 2030-31.
Leader of Opposition Yuri Alemao also criticised what he described as high government spending on events. He alleged that since 2022 the government has spent about ₹677 crore on various programmes, which he said works out to an average of around ₹47 lakh per day.
Referring to the “Viksit Goa, Viksit Bharat” programme attended by the Prime Minister, Alemao claimed that around ₹13 crore was spent on an event lasting about an hour, and questioned whether such expenditure could be reduced so that more resources are available for development works.
Responding to the allegations, Sawant maintained that the State’s borrowings are strictly directed towards capital expenditure and not towards funding events or programmes.
