ADB extends $826 million loans for power transmission in India
31 Mar 2012
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has extended loans worth a total of $826 million to India for shoring up power transmission systems in the country, so as to effectively transfer electricity from surplus regions to power-deficit regions.
These include a $500 million sovereign-guaranteed loan and a $250 million non-sovereign corporate loan for setting up a 1,300-plus km interregional transmission link for bulk transfer of electricity from independent power producers in Chhattisgarh to areas of high demand in the north, including the National Capital Territory Region of Delhi.
The third loan of $76 million (sovereign) will help connect the western grid region to the union territories of Daman and Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli.
Venu Rajamony, joint secretary in the department of economic affairs, signed the guarantee agreements on behalf of Government of India and R N Nayak, chairman and managing director of Powergrid signed the loan agreements.
Rana Hasan, principal economist, India resident mission, signed the guarantee and loan agreements on behalf of ADB.
Speaking on the occasion, Rajamony said the clubbing of a non-sovereign loan of $250 million with a sovereign loan of $500 million in one financing package is a new initiative by the multilateral lender.
