DDA to give Rs 1,500 crore to Metro

The Delhi Development Authority (DDA) has extended financial support for the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation's (DMRC) Phase III and IV expansion plans in Delhi NCR. The land development agency is providing R1,500 crore. Sidhartha Roy reports.

The Delhi Development Authority (DDA) has extended financial support for the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation's (DMRC) Phase III and IV expansion plans in Delhi NCR. The land development agency is providing R1,500 crore.

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The Ministry of Urban Development wants to lower the dependency on Japan for providing soft loans for Delhi Metro's expansion. Two years ago, the central government had decided that a new finance model was required to eventually replace the Japan International Cooperation Agency.

Union Urban Development Minister Kamal Nath had earlier asked DDA to take a sizeable financial burden of DMRC."DDA is going to provide R1,500 crore in phases and an amount of R310 crore has already been provided to DMRC," said a senior DDA official, requesting anonymity.

"The money is being paid from DDA's own funds, including the Urban Development Fund. This money is generated from the conversion charges that DDA gets from converting leasehold properties to freehold, apart from other income sources," the official said.

The DDA earlier paid DMRC R320 crores for extending the Metro service inside the Dwarka sub-city. DDA officials said that it expects that just like Dwarka, the extension of Metro services will help popularise other housing projects such as the Narela sub-city.

Nath had also asked DDA to allocate an additional fund of R10,000 crore for phase 3 expansion apart from the R1,500 crore that it has promised to sanction.