Multilateral funding agency Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has informally agreed to finance ₹33,000 crore in the Silver Line project of the Kerala Railway Development Corporation (K-Rail), which is implementing a nearly ₹64,000-crore project. JICA alone is reportedly ready to provide funds as a loan for the project while the state government is also negotiating with ADB ($1 billion) and AIIB ($500 million) for funding support, at 0.25% interest rate. While the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) are ready to back the project by lending funds at 1-1.5% rates, managing director, K-Rail, V Ajithkumar was quoted as saying and adding that they are talking to the funding agencies on an informal basis. These agencies are ready for a 40-year tenure loan with a moratorium on interest payments for the first five years and the K-Rail is confident of repaying the entire loan amount within 20 years. There is also an option for an initial public offering (IPO) over time as they have the Kannur and the Cochin airport models, where the shares were offloaded to private equities. In fact, Silver Line will be a multi-modal transport system, connecting metro rail and water metros. For instance, Kochi Metro Rail’s proposed Kakkanad station will be connected with Silver Line, which will be on the first floor of the Kakkanad metro rail station, while the second floor will be the Kochi metro stop, as such, they will provide seamless connectivity and also there will be connectivity between Kochi Water Metro’s Kakkanad stop to SilverLine.
