India to complete stalled projects in Syria

The assurance was given yesterday by Sushma Swaraj with the Syrian Deputy PM and Minister of Foreign Affairs Walid Al Moulem

India has assured Syria that it will soon release the second tranche of the $240 million line of credit to complete the stalled Tishreen power project near Damascus as well as the additional $3 million needed for completing the Hama Iron and Steel plant. Work on the two projects, being constructed with Indian assistance, failed to progress because of the unrest in Syria in the last few years.

On Tuesday, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj held a meeting with the visiting Syrian Deputy PM and Minister of Foreign Affairs Walid al-Moallem. According to government sources, The Syrian side requested New Delhi to start work on the stalled projects. The Indian side promised to release $100 million line of credit, the remainder from the original $240 million, soon for the power project. India’s BHEL had signed the contract in October 2009 for installing 2X200 MW power plants, but had to suspend work because of the unrest in Syria.

Officials said the steel plant is near completion and New Delhi asked the Syrians to provide suitable security to its engineers to finish pending work. India had extended a $25 million credit line for the rehabilitation and modernization of the Hama Iron & Steel Plant. Apollo International had won the contract for the project through an international tender earlier. “The project was near completion but the current unrest has halted the progress of the project,” an official said.

The visiting Syrian minister invited India to invest in his country’s oil and gas sector. He apprised Swaraj and senior South Block officials of the internal political situation in Syria, lauded the success of the Russian air strikes on the ISIS forces and said it was a result of better ground coordination with Syrian forces. Sources said the minister criticised the efforts of the US and its allies in battling the ISIS.

The minister said the transitional government will prepare the ground for an intra-Syrian dialogue, which will lead up to drafting a constitution and elections. He said Syria looked to India to help it in meeting its food and medicine needs as also for providing books on technical education and assistance in building power generation capacity.