Japan to lend 105 bn yen for Chennai Metro, SDGs, dairy project

New Delhi, Dec 21 (IANS) India, and Japan exchanged notes and signed loan agreements worth more than Rs 6,600 crore for developing the second phase of Chennai Metro, to help India on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and for a dairy project.

"The Government of Japan has committed JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency) Official Development Assistance (ODA) totaling Yen 105.497 billion (equal to Rs 6,668.46 crore, approximately) for the three projects," the Finance Ministry said in a statement.

The Japanese ODA loan for Chennai Metro Project (Phase 2)(I) is for JPY (Japanese Yen) 75.5 billion, JPY 15.0 billion for Program for Japan-India Cooperative Actions towards SDGs in India and JPY 14.9 billion for Project for Dairy Development, it said. 

While the notes were exchanged between Finance Ministry's Department of Economic Affairs Additional Secretary C.S. Mohapatra and Ambassador of Japan to India Kenji Hiramatsu, the loan agreement for Chennai Metro and dairy project was signed between Mohapatra and JICA New Delhi Chief Representative Katsuo Matsumoto.

"The Chennai Metro Project (Phase 2)(I) aims to meet growing traffic demand by building Mass Rapid Transit System, to mitigate worsening road traffic/ traffic pollution and eventually lead to balanced regional development and enhancement of metropolitan atmospheric environmental condition in Chennai Metropolitan Area," it said.

The Ministry said the cooperative actions programme aims to promote SDGs in India, especially in social development by supporting government efforts to strengthen the policy framework and implementation mechanism, thereby supporting India in achieving SDGs by 2030.

Further, it said the dairy development project aims to increase the sale of milk and dairy products by increasing farmers' access to the organized market, upgrading dairy processing facilities and marketing infrastructure and enhancing the capacity of producers owned institutions.