Rapid rail: Centre in talks with World Bank, JICA to raise $3 bn
The ministry of finance is in talks with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and the World Bank to raise around $3 billion for funding the second Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS) planned between Delhi and Alwar.
The project is a three-stage one and sources indicate that funding will be for the first stage of 107 km from Sarai Kale Khan to Shahjahanpur-neemrana-behror (SNB) urban complex.
The first RRTS – Delhi-ghaziabadMeerut – is already under implementation. “The second corridor between Delhi and Alwar is already in the rolling plan of the JICA. The ministry of finance has already fixed that but the World Bank is also keen to take some portion of that,” said a source aware of the development.
Out of the $3-billion funding for the project, India is looking to get around $2 billion from JICA and another $1 billion from the World Bank.
The total project cost for the DelhiAlwar route is expected to be around ~36,000 crore. The National Capital Region Transport Corporation (NCRTC) has already prepared a detailed project report (DPR). The DPR has been approved by all the three states (Delhi, Haryana and Rajasthan). The proposal is being taken up by the central government for Cabinet approval. However, for some works like road widening, tree cutting and pre-construction activities, Haryana has already given ~100 crore.
For the first RRTS between Delhi and Meerut, around 60 per cent of the ~30,000 crore projected cost is being met through multilateral funding.
Of the total funding of $2 billion, $1 billion is from Asian Development Bank (ADB), $0.5 billion from Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) and $0.5 billion from New Development Bank (NDB). The interest rates for the loans are attractive – between 2 and 2.5 per cent. The Centre and state governments are putting in the remaining amount.
Of the eight corridors planned by the NCR Planning Board in its transport plan for 2032, three were considered a priority corridors back in 2006.
These three corridors — Delhi-meerut, Delhi-panipat and Delhi-alwar — are already under implementation. The third route between Delhi and Panipat will see an investment of around ~30,000 crore. For this corridor, the NCRTC board has approved a DPR. It is awaiting approval from the governments of Delhi and Haryana.