India is considering setting up a fund to pump investment into the nation’s railway, according to the World Bank, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeks an ambitious USD 133 billion overhaul of Asia’s oldest network, Bloomberg reports.
The lender and private institutions may be among the fund’s investors, World Bank India Country Director Onno Ruhl said.
“If the capital investment vehicle realizes then we’re willing to invest in it. There’s a concept in the Railways Ministry. We’d be a small player, ultimately leveraging other people in. Private investors would be more institutional investors in the beginning,” Ruhl said in an interview.
For financing railway projects, we remind that in December, the Government of India and the World Bank signed a US 1.1 billion agreement towards the second loan for the Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor (a freight-only rail line). The Eastern Corridor is 1,839 km long and extends from Ludhiana to Kolkata. The World Bank is supporting the Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor (EDFC) as a series of projects in which the three sections with a total route length of 1,133 km will be delivered sequentially, but with considerable overlap in their construction schedules.
Share on:
