World
Bank to give US$1 bln loan to India's powergrid
The
World Bank will give a loan of US$1 billion to power
transmission company Power Grid Corporation of India
Ltd (PGCIL) (BSE:532898) this year for developing
infrastructure in the sector.
"World
Bank will provide US$1 billion loan to PowerGrid by
June this year and the Centre has agreed to stand
guarantee for it," sources close to the development
said.
PGCIL
has won transmission projects for the three Ultra
Mega Power Projects (Sasan, Mundra and Krishnapatnam)
awarded by the Government.
Upgradation
of electricity transmission network of the country
in the current Plan Period (2007-12), requires investment
to the tune of Rs 70,000-75,000 crore (US$14.4-$15.4
billion) and the World Bank loan would form a part
of this investment.
Out
of the total investment the private players are expected
to pump in Rs 20,000 crore (US$4.09 billion) and the
rest would be spent by the public sector utilities
including PowerGrid.
PowerGrid which plans to set up an inter-regional
transmission capacity of 37,000 MW and 67,000 circuit
kilometres of transmission lines by the end of the
current plan period is investing around Rs 75,000
crore for the same during the stipulated time period.
It
recently commissioned the Ranchi-Sipat transmission
line enhancing power transfer capacity from 1,200
MW to 3,000 MW between eastern and western regions.
With
this achievement, total inter-regional power transfer
capacity of National Grid has been enhanced to 18,700
MW from the existing level of 17,000 MW.
