World Bank plans $ 1 bn for Eastern Corridor

In an encouraging recent development, the Integrated Bank for Reconstruction Development (IBRD), a wing of World Bank, is considering an investment of $1 billion in manufacturing clusters being developed on either side of the Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor, Program Leader, Economic Integration and the Task Team Leader for the Project, Ben LJ Eijbergen said, adding that apart from this, the economic opportunities are also being explored along the freight corridor. A $650 million loan agreement has been made between India and the World Bank recently where the loan has a seven-year grace period, and a maturity of 22 years. The agreement is towards the third loan for the Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor that will help faster and more efficient movement of raw materials and finished goods between the northern and eastern parts of India, for the project approved by the World Bank Board on June 30, 2015. It may be recalled that the Indian Railways urgently needs to add freight routes to meet the growing freight traffic in India, which is projected to increase more than 7 per cent annually. On completion, it will be able to more than double its capacity to carry freight, with faster transit times, being more reliable and entailing minimum cost.