Japan will extend an official development loan assistance worth Rs 5,479 crore to India for Chennai metro and Ahmedabad metro rail projects.
For the Ahmedabad metro project, the loan assistance has been pegged at Rs 4, 410 crore. In the case of Chennai metro rail project, the loan assistance stood at about Rs 1,069 crore.
The agreements for these loans were signed here by S Selvakumar, Joint Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs in the Finance Ministry, and Yutaka Kikuta, Deputy Chief of Mission of Japan to India.
Meanwhile, an official statement said that the Government of India attaches highest importance to infrastructure projects. A very important component of infrastructure is urban infrastructure.
Within urban infrastructure, provision for metro rail gains more importance because of its environment friendly nature.
It reduces the traffic congestion in the cities where the traffic is overflowing and also reduces greenhouse gas emission, the release added.
In this regard, the Government is continuously making efforts to obtain bilateral and multilateral funding to meet this financial requirement.
India and Japan have had mutually beneficial economic development cooperation since 1958. In the last few years, the economic cooperation between India and Japan has strengthened and grown into a strategic partnership.