Japan to give Rs 15,000 crore loan for five Indian projects

Japan recently announced Rs 15,000-crore official development assistance loan for five projects in India including expansion of Delhi metro and works related to wind and solar energy. 

The move reaffirms the two nation's commitment to bring the strategic global partnership to a higher degree of cooperation and to India's sustainable development, a Japanese Embassy statement said. 

"Government of Japan and government of India signed the official development assistance (ODA) loan agreement for five projects totalling more than Rs 15,000 crore. This is the largest amount ever signed at a single signing occasion in the history of Japanese ODA," it said. 

The loan agreement will include three energy sector projects -- New and Renewable energy, Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Energy Saving, and Haryana Distribution System Upgradation.

The development comes after Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh met during a summit meeting in January this year. 

The ODA loan agreement was signed by Takeshi Yagi, Ambassador of Japan to India, and Rajesh Khullar, Joint Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs in Finance ministry. 

Elaborating on the projects, the statement said that the ODA loan has provided approximately Rs 8,933 crore to Delhi Mass Rapid Transport System Project (Phase 3) in order to enhance its transportation capacity.

This project intends to link the existing 190 km of developed network with additional 116 km belt line including six routes and six intervals which connect Indira Gandhi International Airport and Noida district and construction of heritage line connecting Central Secretariat, Delhi Gate, Lal Qila and Kashmir Gate.

"The completion of the project will extend the length of network to 329.4 km and will transform Delhi Metro into a global standard urban transportation system, comparable to the Tokyo metro," the statement said.

The statement said that for New and Renewable Energy Development Project - Phase 2, Rs 1,800 crore loan has been granted to power producers through Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency Limited (IREDA) for the development solar and wind power succeding Phase I of the project.

The ongoing project includes a loan of Rs 1,160 crore for wind power projects in Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat and Karnataka and Rs 220 crore for solar power project in Andhra Pradesh.