Rs.20 bn World Bank loan for Himachal hydel project
Calcutta News.Net
Thursday 12th April, 2007 (IANS)

The World Bank has agreed to provide a loan of Rs.20 billion for a
major hydel project on the Sutlej River in Himachal Pradesh,
officials said.

The World Bank loan will aid the construction of the 412 MW Rampur
project at an interest rate of 8 percent, an official of the public
sector run Sutlej Jal Vidyut Nigam Ltd (SJVNL) told IANS here
Wednesday.

Apart from the loan, the remaining Rs.13.5 billion will be funded by
the central and state governments as both have equity participation
in the project, which is being built near Rampur Bushahr town, some
140 km from here, the official said.

'The World Bank has many stringent conditions which we have agreed
to meet. This includes rehabilitation of some villagers as well. Out
of all options, we thought the World Bank's rate of interest was the
lowest,' he added.

The Rampur project is scheduled to be completed by 2012. The site is
close to the mammoth 1,500 MW Nathpa Jhakri project, the country's
largest hydel project.

The filtered waters of the Nathpa project will be diverted to the
Rampur one thereby reducing the upcoming project's cost
considerably, the official said.

The Nathpa project, which cost a whopping Rs.86 billion, was also
largely funded by the World Bank. It came into operation three years
ago.

http://www.calcuttanews.net/story/241068