The chief minister of the southern India state of Tamil Nadu, Jayaram Jayalaitha, announced on 10 April 2013 that the state government plans to build two more 100,000 m³/d desalination plants in drought-hit Ramanathapuram and Tuticorin districts at a cost of over US$ 147 million.
German development funding would be used for the projects, she said. On 16 April 2013, the chief minister added that she had allocated Rs 22 billion (US$ 406 million) to infrastructure for the city of Chennai including two desalination projects of 150,000 m³/d and 200,000 m³/d.
However, the German development bank KfW Bankengruppe told D&WR that, while a second line of credit for urban infrastructure investment had been agreed in December 2012, the selection process for individual projects under the new loan was ongoing. Project identification was not complete, and the Tamil Nadu government had not communicated any formal decisions.
A spokesperson for KfW said that a list of projects under the Tamil Nadu Urban Development Fund, which has worked successfully since 2008, would not be available for at least 3-6 months. This article was updated on 24 April 2013.