Japan To Extend Rs 4146cr Loans

Japan yesterday agreed to extend to India overseas development assistance (ODA) of about 133,746 million yen (Rs 4146.15 crore) for 1996-97, consisting of a yen loan package and grant assistance.

The notes in this regard were concluded at the finance ministry here yesterday.

They were signed and exchanged by finance secretary Montek Singh Ahluwalia and Japanese ambassador to India Sakutaro Tanino.

The package consists of soft loans totalling Rs 4,115 crore at current exchange rate through the Overseas Economic Cooperation Fund (OECF) at a concessional interest rate of 2.3 per cent and a further concessional rate of 2.1 per cent applicable to environmental related projects, with procurement conditions untied.

 

The overseas development assistance loan amount represents an increase of 3.1 per cent over the previous years loan programme in terms of Japanese yen. The repayment period will be 30 years, including the grace period of 10 years.

With this overseas development assistance package, Japan maintains the position of being the largest bilateral donor of development assistance to India. This is the position it has been holding since 1986, except in 1990.

The 11 projects selected for the Japanese loan assistance are for infrastructure development, with five in the power sector receiving a total 52,796 million yen assistance, and two in the transport sector receiving a total 25.439 million yen loan.

Three environmental projects will receive a total of 41.289 million yen.

The major recipient projects in these sectors are: Simhadri thermal power station in Andhra Pradesh, integrated multi-model mass rapid transport system (MRTS) for Delhi and eastern Karnataka afforestation project.

Grant assistance is intended for increase of food production, debt relief and cultural grant assistance for the Tamil Nadu science and technology centre.