JICA extends Rs 2 809 crore loan for Chennai road project

Chennai, Feb 20 (PTI) The Japan International Cooperation Agency on Tuesday said it has signed a loan agreement amounting to about Rs 2,809 crore for the construction of the second phase of the Chennai Peripheral Ring Road Project.

The loan amount translates into 49,847 million Japanese Yen.
    The Chennai Peripheral Ring Road is placed as one of the priority projects in the 'Comprehensive Integrated Master Plan for Chennai-Bengaluru Industrial Corridor (2015)' based on an agreement between the Government of Japan and Government of India, a release from JICA said.

    The objective of the project is to meet the rapidly increasing traffic demand in the Chennai metropolitan area, ease congestion, reduce transportation time by about 40 minutes from/to Chennai and Ennore ports (through the phase 1 and 2 of the project), and enhance connectivity to the southern part of the state by constructing the 26.3 km Peripheral Ring Road and introducing Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS).

    "JICA signed the loan agreement for the 1st phase of the project in March 2018, and supported the construction of Section 1 (24.5km in total), which is the northernmost part of the Peripheral Ring Road. Subsequently, in this 2nd phase of the project, JICA contributes to construction of Section 5, which is the southernmost part of the Peripheral Ring Road, and introduction of Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) from Sections 2 to 5," it said.

    The Official Development Assistance (ODA) loan agreement was signed between Vikas Sheel, Additional Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance and Saito Mitsunori, Chief Representative, JICA India, it said.

    The executing agency of the project is Tamil Nadu Highways and Minor Ports Department.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)