By IANS,
New Delhi : Japan Friday committed itself to a Rs.7,158.32-crore ($1.43 billion) loan to India for four infrastructure projects, making the country the largest cumulative recipient of Tokyo’s overseas development assistance programme.
The bulk of the assistance, amounting to Rs.4,061.81 crore, is for the second phase of Delhi’s mass rapid transit system to help India’s national capital cope with increasing traffic, an official statement said.
“The project will also be extending the mass rapid transportation system, thereby promoting regional economic development and improving urban environment, through mitigation of traffic jams and decrease of pollution,” the statement added.
The package was agreed at a review of the programme of the Japan International Cooperation Agency conducted by Kumar Sanjay Krishna, joint secretary in the finance ministry, and Masashi Mizukami, charge d’affairs at the Japanese embassy here.
With Friday’s review, the cumulative commitment to India under the Japanese programme has reached Rs.113,209.77 crore, the statement said.
“This is also the highest-ever overseas development assistance commitment from Japan to India and India continues to be the highest recipient of overseas development assistance from Japan,” the two sides added in the statement.
Japan has also agreed to a loan of Rs.1,538.62 crore for a water supply project in Guwahati to ensure 100 potable water for residents in the south-central and north zones of Assam’s capital city.
Phase-two of the Hogenakkal water supply and fluorosis mitigation project, for which the agency has committed Rs.893.04 crore, also seeks to provide safe and reliable water to people in Tamil Nadu’s Dharmapuri and Krishnagiri districts.
A similar project in Kerala, for which a loan amount of Rs.664.85 crore was committed Friday, seeks to augment and rehabilitate water supply system of two urban regions – state capital Thiruvananthapuram and Kozhikode.
It also seeks to construct water supply system of three rural regions – Pattuvam, Cherthala and Meenad including their adjoining villages. This project is being implemented by way of Japanese loan since 1997.
($1 equals Rs.50 approximately.)