Rural electrification : a hard look at costs and benefits

This Precis is an abbreviated version of the Bank's Operations Evaluation Department (OED) : Rural electrification in Asia : a review of Bank experience, Report No. 13291, dated June 30, 1994. OED notes that while rural electrification (RE) projects supported by the World Bank have had a satisfactory record overall, their economic returns had been considerable lower than projected and a wide range of expected indirect and external benefits have not materialized. In India RE has had a crucial role to play in the spread of irrigated farming, in conjunction with other agriculture development programs. But experience shows that RE does not provide a primary stimulus for regional development through industrial growth. The study recommends more rigorous economic and financial analysis and improved tariff and demand management policies.