The multilateral lending agency Asian Development Bank (ADB) will grant a loan of $200 million to finance Assam's rural electrification drive.
The loan, expected to benefit around 10 lakh households, businesses, hospitals and schools and generate 1,500 new jobs, will be given in three tranches of $60.3 million, 89.7 million and 50 million, the ADB said in a statement today.
The loan will be used to partially fund the $764-million Assam Power Sector Enhancement Investment Programme, stretching up to 2014.
There are also other contributors to the state’s electricity investment programme including the World Bank ($360 million), the government of Assam ($154 million), and the private sector with $50 million. Besides there is a renewable energy component that will provide off-grid power to around 2,100 villages in the long term.
Assam has one of the largest number of unelectrified villages in the country and the state has been finding it difficult to electrify villages due to the weaknesses in its transmission and distribution networks.
The ADB facility will provide funds to improve Assam's transmission and distribution infrastructure, including reducing system losses.
A technical assistance grant of up to $1 million from the Technical Assistance Special Fund of the Bank will also be provided, with the government supplying an additional $300,000.
The state government and the state electricity board will be the executing agencies for the projects, with the funding availability period ending June 2015.
