BENGALURU: Namma Metro will shortly receive a Rs 2,000-crore loan from France’s main implementing agency for official development assistance to overseas territories.
Agence Francaise De Developpment (AFD) has agreed in principle to offer Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) this loan at a low interest rate, said Managing Director Pradeep Singh Kharola.
“BMRCL is in the final stages of completing formalities related to it and the loan could be sanctioned shortly,” he said. The repayment deadline is 15 years, he added. The interest rate has been linked to Euribor (Euro Interbank Offered Rate), Kharola said.
AFD had been approached for assistance through the Department of Economic Affairs, Government of India.
The loan will be utilised for Phase-II, which involves extension of all the four reaches of Namma Metro. “It will be immediately made use of for putting in place physical infrastructure for work relating to Reach-II extension (Mysore Road to Kengeri), for which work will begin by September or October,” he said. These are the proposed extensions for Phase II: Extension of two East-West lines: Mysore Road to Kengeri and Baiyappanahalli to Whitefield (Reach I extension) and two North-South lines: Puttenahalli to Anjanapura and Hesaraghatta Cross to Bangalore International Exhibition Centre.
Phase-II also involves two new lines to be laid between RV Road and Bommasandra (East-West) and from Gottigere to Nagawara (North-South). “The loan was okayed following numerous high-level negotiations with French officials,” the MD said. The AFD was also involved in funding construction of Phase-I of Namma Metro with a long-term credit facility of 110 million euros.
Namma Metro has also begun the process of offering compensation to those from whom land had been procured for Metro work this week, Kharola added.