On September 8, 2020, Government of India (GoI) and Asian Development Bank (ADB) signed a $500 million loan agreement for the Delhi-Meerut RRTS (regional rapid transit system) Investment Project. This is the first tranche of a total $1billion (about Rs 7,485 crore) facility. Click Here to Read
- The loan agreement was inked by Sameer Kumar Khare, additional secretary (Fund Bank and ADB) of Department of Economic Affairs (DEA), and Kenichi Yokoyama, country director of ADB’s India Resident Mission.
- This modern, high-speed 82-km Delhi-Meerut, Uttar Pradesh RRTS corridor, a first of its kind in India, will improve regional connectivity and mobility in the national capital region (NCR).
About Project:
With a design speed of 180 km/hour and high-frequency operations of every 5-10 minutes, the 82-km corridor connecting Sarai Kale Khan in Delhi to Modipuram in Meerut, Uttar Pradesh (UP), is expected to reduce the journey time to about one hour.
About first tranche of the loan:
The first tranche of the loan will support construction of the first of the three priority rail corridors planned under the NCR Regional Plan 2021 to connect Delhi to other cities in adjoining states. The activities include constructing electrified tracks, signaling systems, multimodal hubs and stations with design features that are friendly to elderly, women, children and the disabled.
- It will also support the National Capital Region Transport Corporation (NCRTC) in drafting action plans on transit-oriented development (TOD), Value Capture Financing (VCF) instruments and public-private partnership (PPP) initiatives.
Other Finance:
-Besides ADB, a $3 million grant from ADB’s Japan Fund for Poverty Reduction will support various activities, including provision of visual, hearing and mobility aids, such as wheelchairs for differently abled persons.
-The ADB-administered multi-donor Urban Climate Change Resilience Trust Fund (UCCRTF) will provide $2.89 million to support innovations in building information modeling, universal access design features, TOD and VCF.
Recent Related News:
The Maharashtra government approved the Maharashtra Agribusiness Network (MagNet) project worth about Rs 1,000 crore (USD 142.9 million). The project aims to help farmers across all districts in the state for the next 6 years. 70% of the project cost (i.e.700 crores) will be funded by Asian Development Bank (ADB) while the rest of 30% cost (300 crores) is funded by the state government.
About Asian Development Bank (ADB):
Headquarters– Mandaluyong, Metro Manila, Philippine
President-Masatsugu Asakawa
Members– 68 Countries
