Pune: The French Development Bank, Agence Française de Développement (AFD) and Department of Economic Affairs (DEA) on behalf of Government of India signed at New Delhi the first part of the Credit Facility Framework agreement on Monday for extending bilateral funding of 245mn euros to fund Maharashtra Metro’s Pune Metro Project.
Maharashtra Metro Rail Corporation Limited (MahaMetro), a 50:50 joint venture between Government of India and Government of Maharashtra is executing the Pune Metro Project. The estimated total project cost of the Pune Metro Project is Rs 11,420 crore of which the loan component is Rs 5,831.5 crore. The loan component is to be funded by European Investment Bank (EIB) and AFD. The current credit facility signing between DEA and AFD would be to extend bilateral funding of 245m euros to fund the Pune Metro Project.
In a video message from New Delhi, MahaMetro Managing Director Brijesh Dixit said the funding will help accelerate the progress of metro work in Pune. Dixit earlier said while the first part of the agreement will be signed in New Delhi, the second part of the agreement will be signed in Pune.
Pune Metro is the second Metro project after Nagpur Metro (130mn euros) to be financed by AFD under the Indo-French partnership for clean, socially inclusive and climate-friendly mobility for people in cities.
The funds to be received from AFD would be used to fund system packages including signaling, OHE, power supply, telecom and some civil package. The agreements were signed by Union Department of Economic Affairs Additional Secretary CS Mohpatra and Regional Director, India and Bangladesh, AFD Nicolas Fornage in the presence of France Ambassador Alexandre Ziegler.
The signing ceremony was attended by Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs Joint Secretary Mukund Kumar Sinha, MahaMetro Managing Director Brijesh Dixit, MahaMetro Director Finance S Sivamathan, MahaMetro Director Systems Sunil Mathur and MahaMetro Executive Director (Strategic Planning) Ramnath Subramaniam.
The loan by AFD is at 1.2 per cent interest rate for a period of 20 years. Around 845 million euros for the project are to be raised from foreign funding agencies. While AFD has commited 245 million euros, the remaining 600 million euros will come from the EIB.
MahaMetro officials said they will soon sign an agreement with the EIB.
