NEW DELHI, March 31: One of the largest solar thermal power plants in the world, funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF), an international finance corporation, is coming soon to Rajasthan. The Facility, whose first-ever assembly is to be inaugurated by Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee tomorrow, has pledged $49 million for the project, with another $196 million being raised through co-financing. This 140 MW integrated solar thermal combined cycle project will produce around 40 MW through solar radiation, the rest being generated by the fossil fuel route, said government sources.While the GEF money has been sanctioned, the government's contribution of around Rs 60 crore ($15 million) will soon be forthcoming. The state government has already formed a separate utility to run the project which will be located in Mathania, 30 km from Jodhpur.
The GEF is a financing mechanism controlled by the World Bank, United Nations Environment Programme and the United Nations Development Programme. It providesfunds for environmental projects in countries which have a global component. Till now, India has received nearly $150 million from GEF, while other developing countries like China and Brazil have been able to get more funds from the first replenishment of the GEF which draws to an end in June.
The assembly, where 161 countries will be represented, will be chaired by Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha. Environment minister Suresh Prabhu will also participate in the deliberations. The primary purpose of the assembly is to review the general policies and review and evaluate the operation of the GEF. its four focal areas are programmes relating to biological diversity, climate change, international water and ozone layer depletion.
After a pilot phase of three years, the restructured GEF was made operational in 1994 with a pledged core of $2 billion. Project approvals have increased steadily over the years, and now total about $1.6 billion.
The second replenishment is now in its concluding phase with a targetcorpus of $2.75 billion. India's contribution to the second replenishment, as in the first phase, was $9 million. According to sources, the Indian delegation is likely to raise the issue of delay in project clearance at the meeting.
They say that India could have got much more but for the procedural wrangles in the GEF secretariat.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
