ADB to provide additional $250 million loan for Delhi-Meerut Regional Rapid Transit System Corridor
New Delhi: The Asian Development Bank (ADB) will give a $250 million policy-based loan for Industrial Corridor Development to make manufacturing more competitive, strengthen national supply chains and links with regional and global value chains, and create more and better jobs in the country. The ADB signed the loan agreement with the Government of India on December 15, 2023, the Ministry of Finance stated here today.
The ADB will also provide another $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 $1,049 million Multi-tranche Financing Facility (MFF) for the project in 2020 to support the 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 signatories to both loan agreements – the Industrial Corridor Development Programme (Subprogramme 2), as well as Delhi-Meerut Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS) corridor – were Juhi Mukherjee, Joint Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, for the Government of India, and Hoe Yun Jeong, Deputy Country Director, and Officer-in-Charge of ADB’s India Resident Mission, for ADB.
The loan for Industrial Corridor Development Programme (Subprogramme 2) builds on the $250 million Subprogramme 1 loan approved by ADB in October 2021 that helped strengthen policy frameworks for the Government of India’s National Industrial Corridor Development Programme (NICDP) and develop 11 industrial corridors.
After signing the loan agreement, Mukherjee acknowledged ADB’s continued support to the effective implementation of the NICDP the government launched in 2016 and updated in 2020 to strengthen the planning and management of designated industrial economic clusters to attract private infrastructure and manufacturing investments.
“The loan for subprogramme 2 will help in the integration of industrial corridors with transport, logistics and urban facilities under the government’s Prime Minister Gati Shakti platform,” Jeong said. “It will promote gender equality in manufacturing and corridor development, as well as conduct training and upskilling of workers in industrial corridors.”
In addition, the second subprogramme will help industrial corridors develop alternative financing solutions, such as green finance, for industrial cluster development. It will also improve industrial workplace safety and integrate environmental and climate change practices in these areas. To help improve the investment climate, and in line with the ease of doing business, the programme will introduce a synchronised Central and State-level single window clearance system and digitise processes to streamline the logistics process.
The programme is expected to create jobs in the manufacturing sector in industrial nodes, covering areas such as agribusiness, automotive, electronics, food and beverages, heavy machinery, pharmaceuticals, and textiles. It will contribute to the alleviation of poverty in the corridor states, the Ministry stated.
– global bihari bureau
