INDIA AND FRANCE SIGN PROTOCOL FOR LOAN ASSISTANCE TO IMPROVE LAND MANAGEMENT IN BANGALORE

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India and France have signed a Financial Protocol under which the French Government would extend loan on concessional terms for the project "Digital Mapping and Information System Pilot Project for Bangalore Metropolitan Area". This will be a Metropolitan Spatial Data Infrastructure (MSDI) Project for improving planning and land management in the Bangalore Metropolitan Area and will be of use in the field of urban development. The protocol was signed in New Delhi yesterday.

The French loan amounts to Euro 4.56 million (about Rs.22.34 crores) and carries an interest rate of 2.6% per annum. It is repayable over a period of 23 years, including a grace period of 5 years.

The French Government have already extended loans worth Rs.31 crores for four different Projects of the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board. The financial assistance for these projects are covered under the Indo-French Financial Protocol of 1996 and the contracts with French firms are notified under the said Protocol.

French assistance extended to India since 1968 has been utilized in the past for various sectors like Power, Coal, Railways, Water, Agriculture, Petroleum and Natural Gas, Mining etc. Since 1998 the French Government has adopted the following as priority sectors – Environment, Railway equipment, Urban Water Supply and Agro-food industries.