Shimla :The World Bank on Wednesday signed a $648 million loan agreement with THDC India to build the 444 MW Vishnugad Pipalkoti hydro electric project on the Alaknanda river in Uttarakhand which will generate 1665 million kw hours of electricity each year.
The project will provide valuable addition of peaking power to India’s northern grid which faces severe power shortages at high–consumption times, a spoesman of the World Bank said.
The power generated from this project will be supplied to Punjab,Haryana, Rajasth, Uttar Pradesh,Himachal Pradesh,Uttarakhand,Chandigarh,Delhi and Jammu & Kashmir.
Apart from helping provide power at reasonable cost the project will also provide Uttarakhand with a royalty of 12 per cent of the power generated which will be around Rs 90 crore each year.
In a 20 year career published widely. He has worked for the BBC, AFP, The Statesman, IANS and the Business Standard . Known for his hard hitting writing and occasional off-beat stories. He lives in Shimla.
