Friday, November 2, 2007

World Bank assures more debt to Maharashtra (India)

The Maharashtra Goverment plans to make Mumbai a metropolis city by taking loan from the World Bank.
Read the following report
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
World Bank assures to consider more loans to Maharashtra

World Bank on Thursday assured Maharashtra government that it would consider granting loans for its various projects like transformation of Mumbai and building infrastructure in the state.
World Bank President Robert B Zoellick gave this assurance after the government sought financial assistance from the Bank to the tune of USD six billion for the development of Mumbai Metropolitan Region.
The government has prepared a business plan of USD 60 billion which was presented before the World Bank group. The government made a presentation before the World Bank group outlining the vision of Mumbai in the presence of chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh at his official residence Varsha. The presentation described how it wants to transform Mumbai into a world class metropolis with a vibrant economy and a globally comparable quality of life for all its citizens.
The areas where the assistance was sought in the state included enhancing irrigation potential, development of modern urban infrastructure, provision of sustainable drinking water, strengthening and expanding rural health infrastructure etc.

3 comments:

rahulkanavi said...

i read this book called "confessions of an economic hitman" which very clearly explains the manner in which the bank and other agencies together make countries go into debt by selling them unrealistic projects with unrealistic results. Finally bearing the debt is an issue ordinary people have to bear. Shouldn;t such huge loans be done by referundums and public debates instead of just a small cabinet.

Cipher said...

I haven't read the book that you mentioned, but I agree with you that the govt has already decided on taking a loan, but they have absolutely no plans on how and more importantly, "who" is going to pay the debt!!
If its the metropolitan region that is benefiting from the loan, then they should be the ones paying it back. Guess I need to read some good literature to find out about this!

mihir said...

you really need to see the documentary, Zeitgeist 2-Addendum... it is a very shocking revealation of World Bank tactics to pressurise an indebted nation to privatise its core services and give up its natural resources to corporations in other richer nations, like the US.. (US because it has veto power in the world bank)..it also talks about "the confessions of an economic hitman"