Announcement of Twenty-One Million US Dollars For Port of Calcutta in India Signed on August 17, 1961

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE INTERNATIONAL BANK FOR RECONSTRUCTION AND DEVELOPMENT 1818 H STREET, N.W., WASHINGTON 25, D. C. TELEPHONE: EXECUTIVE3-6360 Press Release No. 708 SUBJECT: $21 million loan for Port August 17, 1961 of Calcutta in India signed The World Bank loan of $21 million to the Commissioners of the Port of Calcutta, which had been approved on July 6, 1961, has now been signed. The loan agreement was executed in Calcutta by the Port Commissioners and was signed in Washi.ngton today by Sir William Iliff, Vice President, on behalf of the World Bank. The Guarantee Agreement was also signed by Sir William and. by Mr. D. N. Chatterjee, Charge d'Affaires of the Indian Embassy, on behalf of the ~overnment of India • • Six commercial banks a.re participating in the loan, without the world Bank's guarantee, to the extent of $1,086,000 representing the first three maturi~ies and part of the fourth maturity which fall due between May 1966 and November 1967. The participating banks a.re Wells Fargo Bank American Trust Company, San Francisco; the New York Agency of The Chartered Bank; Irving Trust Company, New York; Mercantile Bank, Limited, London; the New York Agency of The Hongkong arid Shanghai Banking Corporation; and Girard Trust Corn Exchange Bank, Philadelphia. The loan will help to finance dredges and other floating craft to maintain navigation on the Hooghly River approach to Calcutta, and equipment and works to improve the efficiency of the Port. It will also cover the foreign exchange costs of a hydraulic study of the Hooghly River to help solve the problem of siltation in the rive:r.· and to determine the feasibility of establishing a deep- • water satellite port farther down the. river at Haldia to accommodate bulk cargo vessels.