Pune Metro worth Rs. 6,325 cr gets nod

The Public Investment Board (PIB) of the Union Finance Ministry recently approved the state government proposal for multilateral assistance of Rs. 6,325.5 crore for the first phase of Pune metro-rail project with riders. The conditions included that Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) must complete all the necessary administrative work for seeking the Union government‘s approval for the metro-rail project. The financial model has also been cleared and the PIB would take a decision on the Pune metro-rail, which will then be forwarded to the union cabinet for a final nod before it is implemented. As per the government‘s conditions, the loan for the metro rail will be directly taken by the Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) with sovereign guarantee being provided by the Union government and the funds would be co-financed by the Word Bank and China-based Asian Infrastructure Investments Bank (AIIB), which would be split in two-three smaller tranches. The repayment of the loan would be the responsibility of the SPV which would do that from the ticket fare and means like development charges from structures alongside its route and extra cess collected by the civic body, source claimed.