Cabinet approves policy guidelines to allow State entities to borrow from bilateral agencies

New Delhi, Apr 19: The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi today approved the policy guidelines to allow financially sound State Government entities to borrow directly from bilateral ODA (Official Development Assistance) partners for implementation of vital infrastructure projects.
The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA), a State Government entity, has also been allowed to borrow directly from Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) Official Development Assistance (ODA) loan for implementation of Mumbai Trans Harbour Link (MTHL) project.
The estimated project cost for Mumbai Trans-Harbour Link (MTHL) is Rs 17,854 crore, out of which JICA loan portion is expected to be Rs 15,109 crore.
The guidelines will facilitate the State Government entities to directly borrow from the external bilateral funding agencies subject to fulfilment of certain conditions and all repayments of loans and interests to the funding agencies will be directly remitted by the borrower concerned.
The State Government concerned will furnish guarantee for the Loan.