With Meghalaya paying very high interest rates for some of the loans taken from Power Finance Corporation (PFC), the state Government has sought support from the Union Power Minister to reduce interest rates for certain loans.
Chief Minister Conrad Sangma recently met the officials of Power Finance Corporation (PFC) in Delhi to discuss the loan restructuring in the power sector, in presence of Union Power Minister Raj Kumar Singh.
“Our visit to Delhi was to seek the support of the honourable minister and find out ways in which we can move forward. For example, under Power Finance Corporation (PFC), there are multiple loans that we have taken and some of them loans that were taken were taken at very high interest rates,” Sangma told reporters.
He further added, “… we had discussion and meetings with PFC in the presence of the Minister whether those interest rates could be adjusted and reduced and so we figured out how to do it and we are expecting that the interest rates will be reduced for certain loans where the interest rates were very very high.”
He further informed that with NTPC where the agreement was signed a long time back where the power purchase was compulsory and fixed charges were put in which means even if the state doesn’t draw power from them but still have to pay a certain amount of money to them.
“ So we figured out and discussed with NTPC in the presence of the Minister on how we could have a better understanding of this entire issue and how we could resolve this issue,” the Chief Minister said.
“But all these kind of matters were discussed as I said it’s a process, it’s not that we have been able to resolve everything but we feel that we have made a good start and now we will continue this process and streamline different areas so that we can bring back the financial health of MeECL,” he added.