ADB provides $350m loan for India\'s power project

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) said on Friday that it has approved a loan of 350 million U.S. dollars for power asset upgrades in Madhya Pradesh, India to meet increasing consumer demand for power. The Manila-based lender said the loan will fund about 1,800 circuit kilometers of transmission lines, more than 3,100 circuit kilometers of distribution lines, and build or upgrade transmission and distribution substations to bring more power to the Madhya Pradesh state. ADB said Madhya Pradesh, whose economy is growing at a quicker rate than the national average, is expected to see its demand for electricity to rise by about 11 percent per year between fiscal years 2013 to 2017. The project will build on previous ADB investments in the state 's power sector totaling 1.3 billion U.S. dollars since 2001. The government of India is providing a counterpart fund of 150 million U.S. dollars for the project which is expected to be completed by December 2018.