B’lore Metro awaits CCEA nod

B’lore Metro awaits CCEA nod
Financial Express

NEW DELHI, APRIL 25: Decks have been cleared for the Bangalore metro. It is expected to secure the Cabinet nod within a fortnight. The Union urban development ministry has prepared a Cabinet note to this effect and has sent it to the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) for approval.

The Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Ltd (BMRC) has tied up with Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) for a loan of Rs 1,699 crore for phase I of the metro rail transit system.

On Friday, there will be a final meeting among all the stake holders, chaired by finance secretary Adarsh Kishore to discuss the modalities of loan disbursement.

The group of ministers had approved the Rs 6,300-crore project earlier this month. JBIC has agreed to loan Rs 5,300 crore for the project; the balance Rs 1,000 crore would be funded by the Centre under the viability gap funding mechanism.

“The CCEA clearance is the final step before the project can be implemented. Without this approval, the government can not formally sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the government of Japan for the JBIC loan,” said a senior government official.

The Union government, which is the borrower of the loan on behalf of BMRC, can go through the loan agreement with JBIC only after the two governments sign the MoU.