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dam-l LS: Indian Minister Asks for WB Hydro Support
Source: GOI website, Feb 03, 2000.
SMT. JAYAWANTI MEHTA HOLDS TALKS WITH WORLD BANK OFFICIALS
Minister of State for Power Smt. Jayawanti Mehta led a team of power
sector
professionals and developers to USA to attend conferences in Washington
DC on January 25
and New York on January 26, on the theme "Investment Opportunities in
Transmission and
Distribution with advantages of Convergence". The Minister also met the
Managing Director
and senior officials of the World Bank and the International Finance
Corporation to discuss the
support of these institutions for the power sector in India. The
Minister emphasized the full
commitment of the Government of India to support and carry forward the
reform process. This
was evidenced by the strong handling of the power strike in Uttar
Pradesh. The Government is
looking forward for expanding investments in the hydel sector to correct
the hydel thermal
imbalance. She also called for a hydel initiative by the World Bank in
India's power sector. The
need for continuing Bank support to NTPC, Powergrid was also underlined.
The Managing
Director of the Bank assured full support of his organisation to the
reform efforts in Indian
power sector.
The Conferences organized in Washington DC and New York attracted
considerable
interest on the increasing opportunities in India's transmission and
distribution network. Since
Powergrid has announced its plan for associating with private sector
companies for undertaking
investments in telecommunication sector using the right of way available
with the PGCIL,
considerable scope exists for increasing revenues and achieving synergy
in terms of investment
and technology. Government of India is also committed to developing a
more competitive
power sector in India. The regulatory mechanism is already in place for
attracting private
investments into India's power sector. The Conference recognized that
the experience of USA
in convergence and competitive power markets could be usefully
considered while taking
similar initiative in India's Power Sector.