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Development bank lends $500 million to Indian rapid rail project


New Development Bank (NDB) has approved a $500 million loan for funding the Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut regional rapid transit system (RRTS) project. Shanghai-based NBD was formerly known as the BRICS Development Bank.

It will finance the rolling stock, signalling system, operational structures, homes for operational staff, and train control and telecommunication systems.

The RRTS project is estimated to cost $3.5bn, and is co-financed by Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank ($500m), Asian Development Bank ($1.05bn), Japan Fund for Poverty Reduction ($3m), and government and other sources ($1.9bn).

In September, the NCR had taken $500m loan from the ADB to fund the RRTS corridor,  the first tranche of a $1bn package that proved by ADB in August.

The rapid rail project aims to build a network of high speed commuter rail lines connecting Delhi with cities in the adjoining states. It will include the construction of an 82km rapid rail corridor with 68.03km of elevated sections and 14km of underground and ramp sections. The corridor will have 24 stations, 17 of them elevated and five underground.

The RRTS is designed to connect towns and cities in the National Capital Region (NCR) of India. The India's union cabinet approved it in February 2019. The RRTS will carry more than 740,000 passengers each day by 2024 and 1.1mn passengers by 2041, according to a report.

John Yeap, an infrastructure expert at Pinsent Masons, the firm behind Out-Law, said, "With this project being the first of its kind in India with the potential to significantly improve connectivity in the region, the involvement of NDB, as the BRICS backed development bank, together with AIIB and ADB is illustrative of successful regional co-operation based on the common goal of advancing economic development."

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