World Bank To Keep Date With Mseb

A World Bank team is going ahead with its scheduled meetings with senior Maharashtra government officials despite the sanctions announced by the US government. The visit was planned before India conducted the nuclear explosions.

The team is due to meet state energy secretary Satish Tripathi today and state chief secretary P Subramaniam on Monday, senior state government officials said.

The team is here to discuss the revival of the undisbursed portion of the $350 million loan to the Maharashtra State Electricity Board (MSEB). The World Bank had suspended disbursement of the loan on September 26, 1996.

A state government official stated the discussions could be inconclusive as the bank team will probably have to go back and seek directions from its headquarters.

Another official conceded that a cloud hangs over all World Bank loans to be given to India in the wake of the sanctions. The state has been trying to persuade the bank to revive the loan.

The loan was suspended in September, 1996. MSEB had at that time drawn only $107 million leaving a balance of $243 million.

A government official said the MSEB was proceeding with the commissioning of unit VII of the Chandrapur scheme. Another official pointed out that the state government had spent about $90 million after the bank suspended the loan. This would be brought up during the negotiations.

The official did not spell out the precise figure that the government would seek as loan revival or whether the amount spent by the MSEB after the suspension would be factored into the fresh package, if there was one.