The Hindu Business Line : Efficient delivery of Japanese soft loans on the cards

New Delhi March 16 The Japan International Co-operation Agency (JICA) said on Thursday that it expects to deliver overseas development assistance (ODA) in a more "effective and efficient" manner from October next year when "soft loan" part of Japan Bank for International Co-operation (JBIC) comes under its fold.

"A new JICA will come into being from October 2008. The Japanese Government has passed a law whereby the soft loan part of JBIC will be transferred to JICA. Once this happens, you can look to a more effective and efficient delivery of ODA from JICA," Dr (Ms) Sadoka Ogata, President, JICA, told newspersons here today.

Economic Assistance

Currently, JICA's support comes mainly in the form of technical assistance. All soft loans under the ODA are given through the JBIC. The annual ODA commitment of JBIC to India stood at about $1.5 billion last fiscal.

As part of her India visit, the JICA President met a host of Indian leaders including the President, Dr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam; the Congress President, Ms Sonia Gandhi; and the Union Finance Minister, Mr P. Chidambaram.

While underscoring the importance of India as an "operational partner", Dr Ogata also said that there was no plan on part of JICA to cut back any economic assistance or co-operation on account of the strong economic growth recorded by the country.

Financial Commitments

"My discussion with Indian leaders was mainly about the direction of Indo-Japanese co-operation. The effort is to have a new expanded and strengthened relations centred on economic co-operation," she said.

Stating that she did not talk about any specific projects, Dr Ogata, however, said that there was general expectation for support in the health sector.

On railway freight corridor, she said that JICA would submit the final report on the feasibility of the project by October this year.

"We will start our preparations based on the findings of the JICA," Mr Kikuo Nakagawa, Chief Representative for JBIC in India, said, when asked whether JBIC would undertake financial commitments for the freight corridor project.

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