World Bank clears $430m loan for suburban railway

The World Bank on Tuesday approved a $430-million loan (Rs 2,000-odd crores) for the Mumbai Urban Transport Project (MUTP)’s 2A project to improve the city’s suburban railway system.

The state government and the railways will now have to push ahead with their plans to raise the additional funds required for the project, which is expected to cost Rs 5,300 crore. The Indian Railways and the state government will share the cost of the project on a 50:50 basis.

The railways plans to raise the funds by developing a large plot of land at Bandra East. Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) additional commissioner S Srinivas admitted that the revenues generated by developing the plot at Bandra East are central to funding the MUTP 2A.
Railway officials say that in order to raise funds, the railways had floated tenders for developing the plot.

They, though, did not receive any definite offers as the process was conducted during the early stages of global recession. "A subsidiary financial agreement between the state government and the railways will have to be signed before the project can become a reality," said Srinivasan.

Mumbai Rail Vikas Corporation managing director P C Sehgal said the progress of the loan is been monitored by the prime minister’s office.”Manmohan minister, the prime minister, had discussed the project in September 2006 in the presence of the railway minister and planning commission members. The Centre and the state are committed to the project and funds can be raised from different sources to ensure that this project goes through," said Sehgal.

The 2A project, which is the first part of the MUTP II, will involve the procurement of rakes for the suburban railways at a cost of Rs 2,930 crores; the building of a fifth and sixth line from CST to Kurla at a cost of Rs 659 crores; the building of a fifth and sixth line from Thane to Diva to cost Rs 133 crores; a sixth line from Mumbai Central to Borivali to cost Rs 522 crores; station improvement, Rs 128 crores; and resettlement and rehabilitation of families, Rs 124 crores. MUTP II is a sequel to the MUTP I loan, which is bringing about an improvement in the traffic and transport scenario.

During the discussion leading to the loan procurement, MMRDA officials said there was a disagreement between World Bank officials and the state over resettlement of project-affected persons.

Source:- http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com