16 December, 2011

A 113 million dollar ADB loan for the Himachal Pradesh Clean Energy Transmission Investment Program was signed by officials from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Government of India.

The loan is for a 350 million dollar multi-tranche financing facility for the upgrading of transmission system to help Himachal Pradesh take greater advantage of its vast hydropower resources.

Himachal Pradesh, a small mountainous state with five major rivers, has about a quarter of India’s total potential hydropower resources. It wants to scale up generation, but its transmission facilities in certain locations are currently unable to handle large amounts of additional power.

The program will fund much needed new high voltage lines and other transmission infrastructure to allow the state to increase output to meet growing demand.

HP Power Transmission Corporation will carry out the program which is expected to be completed in December 2017.

In 2010, ADB approvals, including, co-financing, totaled 17.51 billion dollars. In addition, ADB’s ongoing Trade Finance Program supported 2.8 billion dollars in trade.