The Government and Asian Development Bank (ADB) on Monday signed an agreement for a USD 250 million loan that will continue financing the construction of the 82-kilometre Delhi-Meerut Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS) corridor. Earlier, ADB had approved a USD 1,049 million multi-tranche financing facility (MFF) for the project in 2020 to support construction of RRTS, the first of three priority rail corridors planned under the NCR Regional Plan 2021, to connect Delhi to other cities in adjoining states.
The RRTS will have multi-modal hubs to ensure smooth interchange with other transport modes. The first tranche of the ADB loan amounted to $500 million with another $500 million co-financed by AIIB. The investment project will enable the RRTS to improve urban mobility, and the project’s economic impacts will also benefit women and the differently abled. Passing through the populated sections of the national capital region, the 82-km corridor will provide fast, safe, and high-capacity commuter transit services, expanding economic and employment opportunities in the region by cutting travel time from 3-4 hours to about 1 hour.
The Government and ADB have also signed USD 250 million loan for industrial corridor development in India. The policy-based loan will make manufacturing more competitive, strengthen national supply chains and links with regional and global value chains, and create more and better jobs. This loan builds on the USD 250 million Subprogramme 1 loan approved by ADB in October 2021 that helped strengthen policy frameworks for the Government’s National Industrial Corridor Development Programme (NICDP) and develop 11 industrial corridors.