The Asian Development Bank (ADB) on Thursday pledged a loan of $250-million loan as part of its infrastructure financing project in the country. This is the second tranche of loan for the ongoing Second India Infrastructure Project Financing Facility, originally approved in 2009.
The first tranche of $210 million was earmarked to finance three sub-projects for improving roads and highways in Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Delhi NCR, besides partly funding a power project in Kutch district of Gujarat.
The second tranche aims to stimulate infrastructure development through public-private-partnership investments in Maharashtra, Delhi NCR, Rajasthan and Gujarat.
The agreement was signed by the Government, ADB and the India Infrastructure Finance Company Ltd (IIFCL), a statement from the Finance Ministry said.
In 2009, ADB had agreed to provide a $700 million multi-tranche financing facility to help IIFCL provide long-term funding for infrastructure development.
“The second tranche will enable ADB to fulfil its commitment to fund 8-10 sub-projects to expand the road network in Gujarat, Maharashtra and Rajasthan by a further 906 km, and to provide additional funding for the Gujarat power project,” the statement said.
ADB had previously provided a $500 million loan to IIFCL for the First Infrastructure Project Financing Facility in 2007. Of the loan, about $381 million was disbursed for 27 road subprojects and $89 million for two international airport sub-projects in Delhi and Mumbai.
The multilateral agency also signed an agreement with Rajasthan for a $63 million loan for urban development programmes in the state.
It also entered into an agreement to provide a $78 million loan as the first tranche for urban infrastructure projects in the National Capital Region.
The signatories to the agreement were Mr Venu Rajamony, Joint Secretary (Multilateral Institutions), Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, and Mr Hun Kim, ADB Country Director for India. Mr Sanjeev Ghai, Chief General Manager, signed the project agreement on behalf of IIFCL.