Published On : Fri, Apr 8th, 2016

KfW, Germany to sign Project Agreement with Nagpur Metro on Sunday

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Nagpur Metro
Nagpur:
KfW, Germany will be signing the Project Agreement with Nagpur Metro Rail Corporation Limited on Sunday i.e. April 10, 2016 in Hotel Centre Point, Nagpur.  Chief Minister of Maharashtra Devendra Fadnavis, and Union Minister for Road Transport, Highways and Shipping Nitin Gadkari, will be the Chief Guests. Minister for Energy, New & Renewable Energy Maharashtra and Guardian Minister of Nagpur District Chandrashekhar Bawankule will be the Special Guest on the occasion and the signing-in ceremony will be performed in special presence of Mayor of NMC Pravin Datke and other dignitaries.

The project envisages use of KfW funds towards building two metro corridor lines

  1. North -South Corridor from Automotive Square to Khapri (19.7 km) and
  2. East-West Corridor from Prajapati Nagar to Lokmanya Nagar (18.6 km).

These two corridors are divided into four main reaches. KfW has specifically considered financing for Rolling Stock, Traction, Tracks, Viaduct for Reaches 2 and 4 elevated stations, Metro Rakes, Electricity Supply.

Earlier, April 1, 2016 saw historic Loan Agreement signed in New Delhi by the German Government’s Development Bank KfW with Dept. of Economic Affairs (DEA), GoI for EUR 500 million (roughly Rs.3750 Crores) to co-finance the proposed modern and sustainable metro system for Nagpur city by Nagpur Metro Rail Corporation Limited (NMRCL), a Special Purpose Vehicle set up jointly by Maharashtra State Government and Ministry of Urban Development (MOUD), Government of India. The estimated total project cost is INR 8,680 crores/ 1,240 million EUR. In India, Nagpur Metro is the first metro to be financed under the Indo German partnership for clean, socially inclusive and climate friendly mobility for people in cities.

NMRCL has been able to tie-up this loan, primarily due to very strong support from Government of Maharashtra, Ministry of Urban Development (MoUD) and Government of India (GOI) – DEA. In just ten months since June 2015, Nagpur Metro has progressed speedily to get funds approved from KfW for its project. According to the agreement, KfW Bank on a mandate from the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) has agreed to lend 500 million Euros loan for 20years with a moratorium of five years. The amount will be disbursed periodically as per progress of the project over three years.

The project physical works were commenced in May 2015, with award of civil works contract for the 4.6km at-grade section which was followed by award of civil contract of 5.6km. The metro lines will be commissioned progressively, with the southern and western links expected to be completed and operational by June 2018 and September 2018, respectively. The remaining two links will be completed and the whole Metro would be operational by March, 2019.