15 February,2017 03:35 PM IST | | Agencies
In a major embarrassment to the Mumbai's town planning authority MMRDA, the Maharashtra government has not agreed to become a guarantor for its plans to raise funds from international agencies for the rolling stock for the DN Nagar-Dahisar and Andheri East-Dahisar East metro lines
In a major embarrassment to the city's town planning authority MMRDA, the Maharashtra government has not agreed to become a guarantor for its plans to raise funds from international agencies for the rolling stock for the DN Nagar-Dahisar and Andheri East-Dahisar East metro lines.
Civil work on both lines has commenced but if the rolling stock is not available then it would be difficult to complete the project on time. "We want to raise funds to the tune of R5,000 crore for rolling stock for both the projects from international agencies.We had apprÂoached the state to become a guarantor but it has not yet agreed" a MMRDA official said.
No direct borrowing
The rolling stock includes not only trains, but also tracks, signalling systems, among others. Banks are ready to provide loans to MMRDA, but the Centre's regulations do not allow a direct borrowing, the official said. According to the official, the Department of Economic Affairs (DEA) has been approached to make amendments in the regulations so funds can be borrowed directly, without the state's support as a guarantor. The borrowing is likely to come from the Asian Development Bank. As per the schedule, bids for buying rolling stock should have been floated, but hasn't been done due to want of funds as the debt-ridden state doesn't want more liability.
Civil work on
Civil work for Metro 2A and Metro 7 routes is expected to be over by 2018. =Dahisar-DN Nagar 2A Metro will be 18.5-km with 17 stations =, and Dahisar East-Andheri East 7 metro is16.5-km with 16 stations.
