Friday, March 30, 2012

WorldBankSpeak Explained in Simple English: Press Conference of World Bank President on Orissa Power Sector Reforms


On 28 March 2012, World Bank Group President Robert B. Zoellick and Orissa (Odisha) Finance Minister Prafulla Kumar Ghadain held a Press Conference. Among the issues discussed were the World Bank funded Orissa Power Sector Reforms, which have been a gross failure.

Some friends were not able to understand what the Bank President and other Bank officials were saying, because they were speaking a language worldbankspeak. To help them, I have translated the language into plain English.

See below: 1. The extract relating to power sector reforms from the transcripts of the Press Conference as put up on the World Bank site. (http://go.worldbank.org/HES15CGBY0).

2. The same transcripts with my explanatory translations of Worldbankspeakgiven in Red text.

You may skip the Item 1 if you do not want to read the same text twice and go straight to 2.

One: Original Text

REPORTER: Mr. President this is Nageshwar Patnaik from Economic Times. The World Bank in fact has been associated with Odisha now for over a decade, as you said rightly. It initiated reforms process in the power sector, and the other states learnt from it, but today there is a setback in power reforms in Odisha with the distribution sector totally floundering. Will World Bank aid come up with some kind of a plan so that this sector can be fine?

MR. ZOELLICK: I was talking with Roberto Zagha about the power sector reforms as we were driving here, and we think that there has been some important lessons learned, but there are challenges about some of the distribution networks and some of the investors in the scope of their preparation to deal with all the societal aspects.

Mr. Zagha told me that he thought that this was going to be strengthened and improved so that there needed to be further work in this area, but I'll let him add any other points.

MR. ZAGHA: That sums it up pretty well. The power sector is a challenge all over India, and Odisha has been a pioneer in introducing power sector reform which has become a model for the rest of Indianational legislation has been changed as a result. But all over India, there are very few states, can hardly think of any at this juncture, [unclear] where the distribution companies are financially solvent. And once the distribution company is not financially solvable then it backs up transmission, generation and the whole sector becomes incapable of producing itself and expanding. So we think there's a very quick [inaudible]. 


Two: Translated Text

REPORTER: Mr. President this is Nageshwar Patnaik from Economic Times. The World Bank in fact has been associated with Odisha now for over a decade, as you said rightly. It initiated reforms process in the power sector, and the other states learnt from it, but today there is a setback in power reforms in Odisha with the distribution sector totally floundering. Will World Bank aid come up with some kind of a plan so that this sector can be fine?



MR. ZOELLICK: I was talking with Roberto Zagha about the power sector reforms as we were driving here(because I have no idea whatsoever about the important issues of the state, and I was getting a quick briefing so that I can give good sound bites), and we think that there has been some important lessons learned,(meaning, we have screwed up badly, people have been suffering, and we had to say, oops, that looks like something bad)  but there are challenges about some of the distribution networks (basically the problem remains unsolved) and some of the investors in the scope of their preparation to deal with all the societal aspects(when planning their project, the investors planned only on how to increase their profits, they sort of forgot the people and that they had to deliver electricity as a service).



Mr. Zagha told me that he thought that this was going to be strengthened and improved (we messed it up, so we were hoping that some patchwork solutions can be found to cover up things) so that there needed to be further work in this area (I know that when initiating the reforms we had sort of said they were a panacea and THE solution,  and that we had thought of everything, but it does appear that we may not have not done everything that should be done), but I'll let him add any other points (thanks, that's the limit of what I know about this since how much can you know in a few minutes briefing in the car?).



MR. ZAGHA: That sums it up pretty well (I myself don't know too much more, and why should I open my big month and take the blame? Let the boss take the heat). The power sector is a challenge all over India (In spite of all over noises and pressures and conditionalities since 1991, we still have not been able to find solutions) , and Odisha has been a pioneer in introducing power sector reform (it was the state which could not resist us, the other more powerful states did) which has become a model for the rest of India national legislation has been changed as a result (Its a great skill we have at the Bank, even though our basic experiment is a failure, we can persuade governments to scale them up. We are trying the same in privatisaiton of water). But all over India, there are very few states, can hardly think of any at this juncture, [unclear] where the distribution companies are financially solvent (Yes, I say it again, in spite of our efforts sine 1991, we have got any state power systems to work). And once the distribution company is not financially solvable then it backs up transmission, generation and the whole sector becomes incapable of producing itself and expanding (I mean, if there are no profits to be made, why.... should the companies be there? Why should people get the basic services of electricity if there are no profits, even though the power plants use the country’s coal, the country's land, the country's water? ). So we think there's a very quick [inaudible]. (Last resort when you have run out of answers, mumble something and look at the mike quizzically as if it has stopped working.)