The Andhra Pradesh government has proposed to provide energy-efficient power infrastructure to its mega project of weaker sections housing for 30.76 lakh beneficiaries with financial assistance from KfW, German government-owned bank, officials said on Sunday.

The housing programme, named as Jagananna Colonies, was launched by chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on June 3 last year as part of his pre-election promise of “Navaratnalu-Pedalandirki Illu (nine promises-housing for all the poor). In the first phase, 1.56 million houses are being constructed at a cost of ?28,034 crore in around 17,000 colonies.

An official spokesman of the state energy conservation mission (APSEM) A Chandrasekhar Reddy said as many as 1.07 million houses have been grounded as on January 8 this year of which 6,901 houses were already completed and another 38,688 houses were completed up to roof level. Construction of another 9.6 lakh houses has been completed up to basement level, he said.

The spokesman said the state government has proposed to provide energy efficient infrastructure in these housing colonies – right from electricity distribution infrastructure to provision of energy-efficient electric appliances to each house such as LED bulbs, tube lights and wiring.

Reddy said KfW has come forward to extend financial and technical cooperation for this housing project. “The proposal came up for discussion at a virtual meeting held on Saturday, in which officials of the KfW, AP housing department and APSEM participated,” he said.

KfW’s head of energy efficiency Dr. Martin Lux proposed to extend financial assistance of Euros 150 million for construction of energy efficient houses and Euro 2 million for technical assistance after successful appraisal of project. Besides, the bank would also extend additional financing support for electricity distribution infrastructure and strengthening the distribution network for supply of power to these Jagananna colonies.

The housing department has proposed to supply four LED bulbs, two LED tube lights, two energy-efficient fans to each household that helps in saving energy bills, contribute to energy conservation and environmental protection. Besides, energy efficient street lights and energy efficiency pump sets for drinking water will be arranged in the 17000 Jagannna colonies.

The spokesman said with implementation of energy efficiency measures, there is a possibility to reduce temperature by 2 to 4 degrees inside the houses depending on the weather conditions of particular area. The beneficiaries can adopt those energy efficient designs in their houses for which housing department engineers and staff will help them to implement the same, he said.

“The housing department shall send detailed project reports (DPRs) related to electricity distribution infrastructure and related information pertaining to energy efficiency and housing data within a week to the KfW,” Reddy added.