By Express News Service CHENNAI: The State is in talks with the World Bank for Chennai City Partnership, an innovative approach to the management of city with focus on drinking water, re-use and conservation of water and urban transport linkages, said Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam while delivering a speech at the World Bank in Washington. He is accompanied by Finance Secretary S Krishnan. The Deputy CM said ‘Chennai City Partnership’ would have two important components: Water and transportation. “A series of discussions have been held between the State and World Bank. We are strongly committed to a holistic inter-sectoral approach for providing better infrastructure and services in Chennai,” Panneerselvam said. He also highlighted that TN is actively engaged with World Bank on preparing ‘Tamil Nadu Sustainable Housing and Habitat Project’, which would mark the re-entry of the World Bank into housing sector in TN after 25 years. IMF tech help sought The Deputy Chief Minister, who also spoke at the International Monetary Fund office, said Tamil Nadu was keen on obtaining IMF’s technical assistance and consultative expertise for improving the public financial management. Panneerselvam said that IMF had agreed to send a consultative mission to engage in a scoping study which has also received the Indian government’s approval. Stating that a regional training programme on ‘Strengthening of Public Financial Management for Southern States’ was recently held at Chennai, he said it was a great opportunity to learn about the best international practices in public financial management and sub-national fiscal issues and perspectives. The South Asia Regional Training and Technical Assistance Centre (SARTTAC), which is a collaborative venture between the IMF, the member countries (Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, and Sri Lanka), and development partners, has been in close contact with Tamil Nadu, he said.

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