Japan pledges $474-million loan to India for new lines of Bengaluru Metro

Japan on Friday pledged a loan of 52.036 billion yen ($474 million) to India to support the construction of the three lines – 2A, 2B and 6 – of Phase 2 of the Namma Metro in Bengaluru.

C S Mohapatra, additional secretary at the Ministry of Finance, and Japan’s ambassador to India, Satoshi Suzuki, signed and exchanged notes confirming Tokyo’s support for the construction of the three metro rail lines in Bengaluru, covering a total length of 80 kilometres.

The project supported by the Japanese government will increase the number of train services to 150, 233 and 125 and daily passenger distance to 3.1 million passenger kilometres, 6.9 million passenger kilometres and 4.7 million passenger kilometres on Lines 2A, 2B and 6, respectively.

It is expected that the loan with a 1.15 per cent annual interest rate and 30 years redemption period will meet the city's increasing transportation demand, contributing to strengthening industrial competitiveness through alleviating traffic congestion and reducing traffic hazard, the Embassy of Japan in New Delhi stated.

Tokyo also pledged a loan of 119.978 billion yen ($1.09 billion) to the Government of India for Phase 4 of the Delhi Metro to provide a loan for extension of Line 7 and Line 8 and construction of Line 6, covering a total distance of 65 kilometres.

Japan will provide another loan of 11.032 billion yen ($100 million) to the Government of India for the development of agricultural-production infrastructures such as small-size irrigation and access farm roads, for the support of organisation of farmers group and agricultural technology, as well as for strengthening of the capacity of Department of Agriculture (DoA) in Himachal Pradesh.

Suzuki and Mohapatra also signed and exchanged notes for Japan’s 45.816 billion yen ($417 million) loan to India for a rural water supply and fluorosis mitigation project in Rajasthan.

Japan committed a 4.016 billion yen ($36 million) Grant-in-Aid for providing batteries and related facilities in South Andaman, to stabilise the electricity supply and promote the effective utilisation of electricity generated by solar photovoltaic cells. “The project will contribute to the enhancement of industrial competitiveness in South Andaman. It is expected that this Grant Aid will lead to sustainable economic growth and mitigation of climate change impacts in South Andaman,” said a spokesperson of the Embassy of Japan in New Delhi.