Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) is hoping for a Rs 10,000-crore loan from Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica) for constructing phase-III of the capital city’s commuter rail network. The central government is yet to decide on this.
DMRC has proposed to add around 70 more km to its already operational 190-km one in the National Capital Region (NCR). While DMRC has already started preparatory work under phase-III to avoid delays, operations would start in full swing only once the funding was finalised. “The overall cost of phase-III has been estimated to be around Rs 24,000 crore by us. We are proposing to seek around 41 per cent of this cost, roughly Rs 10,000 crore, from Jica,” said a senior official from DMRC. “But the talks with Jica are yet to begin. It will happen only after the central government approves the project,” he added.
Jica is the Japanese government agency for extending technical and financial assistance for projects in developing nations. Loans from it were instrumental in the commissioning of phases I and II of the Delhi Metro. “Our intention is to finalise the loan from Japan within this financial year. We expect the loan to come to us at roughly the same annual interest rate as for phase-I and phase-II,” the DMRC official said. Phase-I involved construction of a 65-km rail network at a cost of Rs 10,500 crore. Around 60 per cent of this, Rs 6,400 crore, was funded as debt by Jica at an annual interest rate between 1.3 and 2.3 per cent. That project was completed in 2002 and the loan amount repaid between 1998 and 2005.
Under Phase-II, DMRC is setting up a 124-km network at a cost of Rs 20,000 crore. Of this, around 49 per cent – Rs 9,600 crore – has to be funded by Jica as debt at an interest rate between 1.2 and 1.4 per cent.
“We expect the loan for phase-III, too, to flow into DMRC in similar five-six tranches. And, if everything goes well, services under the project should be operational by 2015,” the official said. He said the reason for the higher cost of phase-III is the higher component of underground lines. “While the underground component accounts for roughly 25 per cent of the entire DMRC’s rail network commissioned so far, it will go upto around 60 per cent in phase-III,” he said.
DMRC invests close to Rs 300 crore for construction of every km of underground rail lines, around three times more than the cost of laying overhead lines.
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The ambitious project was given in-principle approval by the Delhi government in October. Asix routes were proposed – Central Secretariat to Red Fort, Rajouri Garden to Mukundupur, Jahangirpuri to Badli, Anand Vihar to Dhaula Kuan, Malviya Nagar to kalindi Kunj and Ashok Park to Delhi Gate. In addition, there was to be a 13.8-km extension from Badarpur into Faridabad in Haryana.
DMRC is likely to present a revised Phase-III project teport to the Delhi government in a few days, since the city government proposed minor changes in the report to cover areas of the Outer and Inner ring roads, managing director E Sreedharan said on Friday.