6 NE states sign MoU with World Bank

AGARTALA: Tripura has signed a loan agreement with the World Bank (WB) and Power Grid of India to augment the transmission and distribution networks in extending last mile electricity connections to households.
Officials here on Wednesday said besides Tripura, five other northeastern states – Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Nagaland have signed the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with WB for getting loan of 470 million US dollars to revamp the power sector.
The officials pointed out that the existing power infrastructure in Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura is old and has not been adequately maintained, which made the system prone to high technical and non-technical losses, and leads to frequent interruptions and outages in power supply.
To upgrade the system and increase efficiency of power network, North Eastern Region Power System Improvement Project has been undertaken to strengthen and augment the intrastate transmission, sub-transmission, and distribution networks in the states.
Power Grid will also help in building the capacity of the state departments and utilities to continue managing the refurbished networks in an optimum and efficient manner. “The project will support the states get better access to power for the overall economic development of the region”, it was stated. (PTI)