After metro, World Bank now sees investment opportunities in road project as well
Mumbai Metropolitan Region’s biggest infrastructure project- the 22km long Mumbai Trans Harbour Link (MTHL) got a major financial boost on Monday when World Bank showed keen interest in funding the Rs8311 crore project. The delegation also expressed their interest in funding the Rs12,000 crore line III of the Mumbai metro- the first one to be underground.
“It was for the first time that the WB officials have proactively expressed their willingness to fund the MTHL, which is on our major priority list,” Rahul Asthana, metropolitan commissioner, Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development authority (MMRDA) said. “Normally, the WB is not keen onto funding any project which is based on the Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode of finance. However, they have made it a special case in MTHL and have shown their interest in providing the Viability Gap Funding (VGF) needed for the project. Although we have not still finalised the financial model for the project, PPP is certainly being favoured keeping an eye from central funds for the project,” informed Asthana.
MTHL has been one of the major focuses of MMRDA since the project switched hands from the state road development corporation (MSRDC). “We are still very optimistic that the project gets the status of the National Project- in which case, we may get up to 80-90 % of the funding from the centre. However, till then we have to tap our resources,” said Asthana. He also added out of the total 100 hectare land needed for the project, 70% has been acquired. “We understand that WB is very critical about the human rehabilitation component of any of the projects that they finance. However, in this case, the human rehab component is minimal,” informed Asthana.
The officials have also shown keen interest in funding the Rs12000 crore metro’s line III which is to run from Colaba to Bandra and then up to the International airport. “While the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has been kept in the loop for funding the metro-III, which may cost more than Rs15,000 crore, there may be additional requirement of funds looking at the mammoth cost of the project. We will be considering World Bank to chip in with their funds to finance the project,” concluded Asthana.
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