World Bank, Telangana discuss partnerships in skills development, Net Zero, reimagination of Hyderabad, Citizen Health

In one of the major landmarks breakthroughs during the trip to the United States of America, Telangana Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy and World Bank President Ajay Banga held discussions here and decided to forge a roadmap by which that the state and bank could partner on several fronts, and projects, to make a positive, ambitious and highly impactful outcome on lives of over four crore people.

The potential areas for partnership being outlined through explorations and deliberations would include initiatives on skills development, urban rejuvenation and reimagination, Net Zero developments, citizens’ healthcare, diagnostics and electronic records, among others.

In the over an hour-long meeting, between the head of World Bank and the Chief Minister and his team, it was decided to create setup cross-functional team to conceptualise viable projects in each of the areas in an accelerated mode. People, planet, sustainability, health, skills and jobs were the major themes of the discussions between the two visionary leaders.

The World Bank backing would give a massive fill-up to several of the key visions of Chief Minister Revanth Reddy, including the Musi River rejuvenation project, Skill University, Future City, Citizen Healthcare and development of Hyderabad 4.0.

The World Bank, while expressing delight and optimism of the balanced vision of Chief Minister for Telangana and Hyderabad, highlighted how the bank has had enjoyed success in generating positive outcomes in the region with several project initiatives earlier. He also showcased great interest in backing the vision for the creation of a Net Zero city.

Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy expressed delight after the marquee endorsement on several key initiatives of the state, and promised to ensure each project is followed up on mission mode to ensure ambitious impact and outcomes but with highest transparency.

It is the first time the state of Telangana has chosen to explore working with any of the Bretton Woods institution. The Telangana team gave an overview of several other developments which impact the lives and livelihood of citizens, environment and sustainability in the state.

IT & Industries Minister D. Sridhar Babu, Telangana Chief Secretary A. Santhi Kumari, and other officials including Jayesh Ranjan, Ramakrishna Rao, V. Sheshadri, Vishnu Vardhan Reddy and Ajith Reddy attended.

World Bank executive director Parameswaran (‘Param’) Iyer, who also attended the discussions, praised the Telangana government for its holistic, balanced, sustainable and impactful vision keeping state and people first.