With Union government giving in-principle approval to seek funds from AIIB, a team of the bank led by vice-president D J Pandian held discussions with chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami and senior bureaucrats on Wednesday, (5th Feb 2020) to speed up the process.
The state government will use a Rs 10,000-crore loan from the Beijing-based Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) to fund portions of corridors four and five of Chennai Metro’s phase two and a stretch of the peripheral ring road in the north of the city.
“A screening committee of the department of economic affairs sanctioned the proposals. The next mission is to finalize and sign the formal agreements,” said a senior official.
The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has funded certain components of metro rail and peripheral ring road. Of the 118.9km long phase II of Metro Rail, JICA extends funding for parts of corridors three and five running for about 52.1km from Madhavaram to Sholinganallur and Madhavaram to CMBT.
The AIIB will fund 16 kilometres of corridor four between Light House and Meenakshi College, and the remaining portions of corridor five. Asian Development Bank will also be funding the project. “We will float tenders for AIIB projects by June,” said an official source. Tenders have been floated for JICA projects.