BMRCL to raise Rs 12,000 crore loan for second phase of Metro

The Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) will borrow around Rs.12,000 crore of loan from various international banks and investors for completion of the second phase of the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Ltd. The second phase of the project will cost Rs. 26,400 crore and is expected to complete in the next five years. The Central and state government is expected to bear 55 per cent of the total cost. On Friday, BMRCL and French agency Agence Francaise De Development (AfD) signed an agreement for Rs. 1500 crore loan (€200 million), in the presence of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah. In the first phase, AfD has lent Rs. 800 crore (€110 million) to BMRCL. “BMRCL is holding talks with KfW of Germany and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) to borrow loans”, BMRCL Managing Director Pradeep Singh Kharola told The Hindu. The AfD loan would be utilised to finance the four extension lines, East-West and North-South corridors via Mysuru Raod to Kengeri, Byappanahalli to Whitefield, Puttenahalli to Anjanapura, and Nagasandra to Bangalore International Exhibition Centre (BIEC). Phase II of the metro project involves extensions of the current reaches as well as laying two new lines between RV Road and Bommasandra as well as Gottigere to Nagawara.