Thaindian News

New Delhi, March 21 (IANS) The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has offered India a $250 million loan for expanding road networks and power projects in Gujarat, Maharashtra and Rajasthan, an official said Monday.

The long-term loan is part of the $700 million multi-tranche financing facility committed by the ADB in 2009 to help develop infrastructure projects in India.

Public-private-partnership projects are given priority under the scheme.

“ADB support is enabling the company to leverage around 5 to 7 times its own resources by increasing the confidence of other lenders and attracting private sector participation in public-private-partnership projects,” Hun Kim, Asian Development Bank Country Director for India, said in a statement.

The first tranche of $210 million has been earmarked to finance three sub-projects for improving roads and highways in Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, and in the National Capital Region of Delhi, and to partially fund a power project in Gujarat’s Kutch district.

The second tranche will fund 8 to 10 sub-projects to expand the road network in Gujarat, Maharashtra and Rajasthan by a further 906 km, and to provide additional funding for the Gujarat power project.

Venu Rajamony, Joint Secretary (Multilateral Institutions), Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, on behalf of the Government of India, and Hun Kim, Asian Development Bank Country Director for India and Sanjeev Ghai, Chief General Manager, India Infrastructure Finance Company Ltd., signed the loan agreement.

Commenting on the deal, Rajamony said: “The India Infrastructure Finance Company is expected to achieve cumulative disbursement of $4.4 billion by the end of the current fiscal. ADB support has been critical in this regard.”