The Hindu Business Line : World Bank assures support for rural drinking water plan

IN their meeting over lunch, the President of the World Bank, Mr James Wolfensohn, and the visiting Finance Minister of India, Mr P. Chidambaram, discussed a wide range of issues that included lending for infrastructure and irrigation; and among the sectors identified in the infrastructure area were electricity, sea ports, airports and railways.

Mr Chidambaram, who was in town for the annual meeting of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, also outlined to the World Bank Chief the ambitious project announced in the Union Budget for the restoration of water bodies. ``Mr Wolfensohn evinced keen interest and promised to examine the same when the project is posed to the World Bank,'' a press release issued by the Embassy of India here says.

According to the note, the President of the World Bank offered to support a nationwide project for providing drinking water, especially to the rural areas. The Finance Minister indicated that a nationwide project for rural electrification was under way and both he and Mr Wolfensohn agreed to examine the ideas further. Mr Wolfensohn is said to have made the point that if adequate infrastructure projects were posed to the World Bank, he could "easily commit" to provide the desired scale of funding.

One of the issues that merited a high degree of attention in the annual meetings, especially at the various committees, was the subject of development assistance where the Finance Minister made extensive remarks in the course of his statements.

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