Bihar to receive international assistance for development

Dec 14, 2007, 9:42 GMT

Patna, Dec 14 (IANS) The World Bank and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) will be providing loans to Bihar, one of India's economically backward states, to speed up development, top officials of the state said here Friday.

The World Bank has agreed to provide a loan of Rs.8 billion in the current financial year (2007-08) for development.

'The state in all likelihood would receive a World Bank loan soon at a very low interest rate of about two percent on a long-term repayment basis under the bank's development policy loans,' Bihar's Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi said.

Modi said the World Bank would take a decision on this at it board meeting scheduled later this month.

'The entire process related to the loan to Bihar have been completed,' he said.

The ADB has also approved a loan of Rs.16.54 billion to build nine state highways measuring 820 km.

'Approval of the ADB loan has been received for work on the proposed nine state highways,' the state's Road Construction Minister Nand Kishore Yadav said.

Yadav said that the state government was negotiating with the ADB for another loan to build a further 826 km of highways in the state.

The Japan Bank of International Cooperation has also offered to provide funds worth Rs.56 billion for the construction of four-lane roads along the Buddhist circuit of Bihar. These would connect Buddhist shrines in Bodh Gaya, Nalanda and Rajgir.

© 2007 Indo-Asian News Service