ABD gives $176 mn loan to extend Jaipur metro services

Manila based multi-lateral funding agency ADB would provide USD 176 million loan to fund extension of Jaipur metro services.
"The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the government of India today signed a USD 176 million loan that will fund the extension of Jaipur's first metro train line," ADB said in a release.
A new 9.7 kilometre elevated Line 1 train track from western part (Mansarovar) of the city to the western edge (Chandpole) of the central business district would be ready for use in July.
ADB's loan would help finance an additional 2.3-kilometre underground stretch.
It is likely to be ready to provide access to the central business district by March 2018.

"Efficient and modern public transport is key to making cities more livable by making it easier for people to get to their workplace and home again. It also means fewer cars on the roads which also leads to cleaner air," said M Teresa Kho, Country Director of ADB's India Resident Mission.

Kho signed the loan agreement, on behalf of ADB, while Nilaya Mitash, Joint Secretary (Multilateral Institutions), Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, signed for government.
ADB's loan assistance is expected to carry 126,000 passengers every day during its first year of operation, and generate around 61 per cent of all the trips on Line 1.

The loan will also help finance studies into a planned 23-km-long, north-south Line 2 metro line.