AIIB injects $356.67-mn in CMRL's expansion

The Beijing-based Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) has approved $356.67 million for the expansion of the Chennai metro rail system. The project involves the construction of a new corridor in Chennai's metro network as part of its Metro Rail Phase 2. AIIB's VP for Investment Operations, D J Pandian, informed that with this loan, the bank has so far approved 28 projects in India amounting to a total of $6.7 billion.

The other AIIB major Infra projects for India included $335 million for Bangalore metro, $400 million for Andhra Pradesh Urban Water project, $105 million for Kerala Solid Waste Management, $125 million for Resilient Kerala, $500 million for Mumbai Urban Transport Project-3 and $500 million for Delhi-Meerut Rapid Transport system.

The Chennai Metro project is aligned with AIIB's mandate to support high-quality and sustainable infrastructure. The energy and transport sectors have received the highest amount of financing from the AIIB. After China, India is the second-largest shareholder of the bank and is also its largest beneficiary in terms of getting approvals for many projects. Besides funding various infra projects, the bank also granted $1.75 billion to India for COVID-19 relief budget support, which included help for social protection and assistance to Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs).