World Bank loan to be all-time high at $3.5 bn

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New Delhi, April 3: World Bank’s loan to India will for the first time cross $3.5 billion in a year and it includes a possible $450 million for tsunami reconstruction work and $300 million for rural roads.

“This fiscal (July-June 2004-05) our assistance could be well be in excess of $3.5 billion,” World Bank country director Michael Carter told PTI.

World Bank’s country assistance scheme envisages $3 billion loans to India annually during 2004-07.

The Bank is already lining up loans for a slew of infrastructure projects like national e-governance, $400 million loan to PowerGrid and another $295 million for Maharashtra irrigation project, he said.

For the e-governance project, Mr Carter said “the basic idea is to provide a fund that would be picked up by respective states for implementing the project.” It could be about $500 million.

The Bank is likely to extend about $450 million IDA soft loans for tsunami reconstruction requiring an estimated $1.2 billion for Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Pondicherry.

It is also considering projects related to dreaded diseases like HIV/AIDS and TB and agri-technology, bio-diversity, dam rehabilitation, rural electrification and state highways.

The Bank also intends to take up funding for water supply projects of Rajasthan, Delhi and Punjab.

During July-June 2004-05, Mr Carter said the Bank has already funded rural road project ($300 million), Assam’s agriculture scheme ($154 million), Tamil Nadu’s health scheme ($111 million) apart from loans to Orissa ($43 million) and health scheme ($68 million).