Mumbai Metro 3 plan gets boost after Japan signs Rs 4,553 cr loan

The 33.5 km fully underground metro corridor, from Colaba to SEEPZ via Bandra, is scheduled to start in 2020.

In a significant development for Mumbai’s first underground metro project, the Centre and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) signed an agreement on Tuesday, which will give Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) a sum of Rs4,553 crore (71,000 million Yen) as the first instalment of a loan for the Metro 3 project.

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The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) is an independent governmental agency that aims to assist in the economic and social growth of developing countries.

The 33.5 km fully underground metro corridor, from Colaba to SEEPZ via Bandra, is scheduled to start in 2020.

JICA is set to provide financial assistance amounting Rs13, 235 crore for the Rs23,136 crore Metro 3 project.

In May this year, the Japanese premiere Shinzo Abe had pledged an amount worth $424 billion for the development of eight railway projects in India.

According to MMRDA officials, the planning authority is set to receive the first tranche of the loan soon.

The remainder of the loan, to be handed over in 2 instalments, will need signatures on two separate agreements before it is received by the MMRDA.

Construction work is set to begin sometime in April next year but the MMRDA invited global tenders for civil works in the project on Tuesday.

“We are going to carryout civil construction of the cor ridor i n seven parts so seven separate tenders will be invited.

We anticipate that the tendering process will take almost six months to complete so the actual construction is expected to start in April- May next year,” said MMRDA commissioner UPS Madan.