Punjab strongly urged the Centre to speed up approval of the Rs. 2900-crore World Bank-assisted projects for roads and water supply in the State. It said the projects consisted of Rs.1100-crore Punjab road sector and Rs.1819-crore Punjab rural water supply and sanitation pending with the World Bank and in the advanced stage of processing. In a meeting with Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram, Chief Minister Amarinder Singh said the Central Department of Economic Affairs and the World Bank might be asked to permit the State Government to incur expenditure from its own resources from April 2006 that could be reimbursed later.