EXIM backs Indian project

EXIM backs Indian project

WASHINGTON (AFP): The U.S. Export-Import Bank has approved a 19 million-dollar loan guarantee to support the sale of generators for a "clean coal" power plant in India, the bank announced here Monday.

The gas and steam turbine generators will be supplied by General Electric Company for a 60-megawatt plant in the western Indian state of Gujarat.

Through a coal gasification process, the plant will produce a clean gas from local lignite coal that will then be burned in the turnine to make electricity.

The bank described the procedure as "environmentally beneficial" and said the plant would be the first facility to use such technology in a developing country.

"Half the world's power plants use coal," said GE manager of market development Douglas Todd.

The Ex-Im Bank is a government agency that helps finance and promote the sale of U.S. goods and services overseas.