Lucknow, Oct 5 (Reporter) International Finance Corporation's (IFC) Global Managing Director, Makhtar Diop, paid a courtesy visit to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath at his official residence on Saturday. During the meeting, Diop expressed IFC's keen interest in supporting the state's ambition of becoming a one trillion dollar economy and collaborating in the areas of infrastructure and agricultural technology (AgTech). The discussion explored various possibilities for cooperation in UP, with a focus on Public-Private Partnership (PPP) models. IFC showed a particular interest in contributing to the state's development in infrastructure and AgTech. In response, CM Yogi assured IFC of full support and cooperation in these efforts. IFC's Global MD, Makhtar Diop, said that IFC has been cooperating in many important projects for the past several years. “IFC committed US 200 million dollar to IndiGrid, India’s first and largest power sector infrastructure investment trust, supporting the modernisation of India’s transmission sector through asset monetisation. At the same time, IFC actively engages in PPP transaction advisory for innovative renewable energy projects.” It may be noted that IFC and the World Bank Group are working with the state government to increase infrastructure investment in urban areas of the state. UP has at least 7 cities (Kanpur, Lucknow, Ghaziabad, Agra, Varanasi, Meerut and Prayagraj) with a population of more than 1 million, which can become an important part of this initiative. IFC and the World Bank Group can jointly help establish a pooled financing structure for the state to attract private capital into urban infrastructure. A pooled commercial financing structure could draw on the financial strength of the State of UP to address collective funding requirements for urban infrastructure. He said that with the support of the WBG 100 Cities program, including IFC, a state intermediary could raise loans/bonds on a pooled basis with a government guarantee or credit enhancement. The WBG-ADB 100 cities programme with the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) aims to deliver bankable projects in water supply, sanitation, and solid waste management services in 100 cities. The program is in preparatory stages. IFC has invested nearly US 750 million dollars in 29 projects in sectors such as chemicals and fertilizers, housing, renewable energy, telecommunications, health and food processing since 2007. To support the state government’s efforts to promote PPPs, IFC signed an MoU with the Department of Infrastructure and Industrial Development (IIDD) in July 2023, under which IFC is providing advisory services on procurement, operation and maintenance of e-buses. IFC’s direct engagement with the Government of UP includes advisory on PPPs and AgTech. IFC was engaged as a transaction advisor on the Jhansi Solar Project to assist the client (TUSCO) in structuring and tendering a solar power park project of 600 MW in Jhansi. The project is expected to reduce at least 1.1 million tons of CO2 emission annually, facilitate RsUS$330 million of financing, reduce the energy gap, and increase generation of renewable energy. Similarly, IFC has contributed to a number of projects to promote investment in agtech in Uttar Pradesh. Under this, IFC’s India Agritech Advisory Project (IAAP) is benefiting more than 30,000 farmers. The project is empowering farmers through initiatives such as agricultural monitoring, access to markets, crop diversification, and women entrepreneur-led micro-processing clusters. IFC has invested in sewage treatment plant (STP) projects for the revival of the Ganga River under a PPP in collaboration with the Jal Nigam of UP and the National Mission for Clean Ganga...////...