The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : World Bank aid to India on the rise

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, May 14, 2006

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

World Bank aid to India on the rise

HYDERABAD: The World Bank is stepping up its assistance to India touching $ 3 billions this year, even while shifting its lending portfolio in favour of infrastructure projects.

The assistance has been steadily rising from $ 1.5 billions two years ago to $ 2.5 billions in 2005, Salman Zaheer, lead energy specialist of the Bank, told mediapersons attending a workshop here on Saturday. The one-day workshop on "Power supply- challenges in efficient delivery," was jointly organised by the Press Institute of India (PII) and World Bank.

Sixty percent of the loan portfolio would now include roads, irrigation, power, urban and rural water supply. As for the State-specific assistance, the Bank was firming up $ 200 million budget support loan each for Andhra Pradesh and Orissa.

This would essentially enable States which have adopted for Fiscal Responsibility Act, to shift from more to less expensive loans. The other State was Rajasthan in power sector.

The Bank was looking forward to extending assistance for huge schemes in the Central rural electricity services, hydropower and establishment of institute for regulation and competition, he said. He said there were some areas of concern in power sector reforms. Over 40 percent of energy into state transmission systems was lost, not billed, incorrectly billed or payment not collected. If this could be brought down to 20 percent there could be a saving of Rs. 15- 20,000 crores a year.

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