Why no financial hurdles for Vijayawada Metro?

Andhra Pradesh government is clearing decks for the Vijayawada Metro Rail Project which is estimated to cost 6769 Crore. Union government and Andhra Pradesh government will be holding the maximum equity of 20% each in the project which works out to 1200 crore, the GOI’s share will be 866 crore and that of State government will be another 866 crore.

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Now Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) agreed to loan 3600 Crore for the project at a fixed interest of 0.30% which clears the major financial hurdle. The project will also get interest free subordinate loan of Rs. 333.5 crore from GOI and Rs.1,102.5 crore from AP Government.

The project is an all elevated Metro system and is expected to serve 22 Lakh population by 2018 and will the major transport system for the Capital Region Development area of AP.