The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has signed a facility agreement for a loan of $ 250 million with Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL), which was approved in March last year.
The loan has been given through ADB’s non-sovereign lending window that signalled the multilateral lending agency’s first foray into the mass rapid public transport sector in South-Asia.
The funding amount will be invested in developing the metro project that comprises a track length of 42.3 km, including electrical works, signaling and telecommunications system, stations, centralised train control system, automatic fare collection, and 168 train cars.
Hun Kim, Country Director for India, signatory on behalf of ADB said:
“Being the first metro rail project financed by the ADB in South Asia, this also reiterates ADB’s keen interest in supporting environmental improvement and decongestion in the fast-growing Indian cities with safe, effective and affordable public transport systems.”
“The ADB support to the BMRCL lends additional credibility to the project, especially in the financing model which has been jointly developed. The project is vital for providing the connectivity backbone to Bangalore’s future economic growth,” N Sivasailam, Managing Director, signatory from BMRCL said.
Anouj Mehta, Senior Infrastructure Finance Specialist at ADB said:
“The model developed through ADB’s sustained support to BMRCL during the loan design phase creates a bankable project structure which has the ability to attract commercial financing into similar projects in the sector.”
The metro rail is designed to carry 40,000 passengers per day that is estimated to rise to two million passenger trips per day by the year 2021.
The project could ease traffic congestion in the country’s IT hub having a population of more than six million.
