Haryana power dept eyes $400-m World Bank loan

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Chandigarh: The power department of Haryana is hopeful of getting a World Bank aid of about $ 400 million by mid of next year to strengthen the power situation of the state. A special team of six members of the World Bank recently visited the state on a pre-appraisal mission to review the loan proposal.

The team met the heads of the power utilities, the transmission and distribution companies and the Haryana Electricity Regulatory Commission.

Sharing details with FE, Ashok Lavasa, financial commissioner & principal secretary (Power) said, “The wrap up meeting between the power department officials and World Bank team was held last week. We have sent a loan request to the World Bank for a total amount of $1.1 billion which will be disbursed in phases. The appraisal mission of World Bank is likely to visit Haryana early next year and then the final decision about loan amount will be taken. In the first phase we will get around $400-million for sprucing up the transmission and distribution network.”

Once the state receives funds from the World Bank, it can ensure proper electricity supply to the consumers, better power transmission and minimal distribution losses. Lavasa further added, “The Haryana Vidyut Prasaran Nigam (HVPN) has submitted a loan proposal of over $200 million for renovation and maintenance of thermal power stations. The Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (UHBVN) and Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (DHBVN) have requested loan amount of $70 million each. The rest of the amount will be used for capacity building by the power utilities.”

UHBVN plans to use the $ 70 million funds in implementing the Accelerated Power Development and Reforms Program-II (APDRP) of the Central government to streamline the power distribution system and bring down the aggregated technical and commercial losses in the selected project areas to 15% or below. The scheme will be implemented in Panipat and Yamuna Nagar towns in the first phase. KfW (Germany) has also promised to lend Euro 70 million for the same purpose.