LOAN FROM ADB TO RAILWAYS

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RAJYA SABHA

Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a loan of US$ 313.6 million during December 2002, for Railway sector improvement. The loan agreement has not yet been signed.

The loan shall be available as per the provisions of a draft loan agreement to be entered into by Ministry of Finance, on behalf of Government of India. It has loan covenants relating to the Loan, Use of Proceeds of the Loan, Particular Covenants, Suspension, Cancellation, Acceleration of Maturity, Loan Effectiveness and Delegation of Authority. These conditions have been finalized between the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Railways and the ADB.

The projects to be funded by ADB under this loan will be implemented by Rail Vikas Nigam Ltd., a public sector company, set up to undertake the Golden Quadrilateral strengthening projects and other bankable projects under National Rail Vikas Yojana.

This information was given by the Minister of State for Railways Shri Bandaru Dattatraya in a written reply to a question from Shri Vayalar Ravi in the Rajya Sabha today.