France and Germany will fund India’s urban infrastructure mission after the nations’ previous cooperation on the CITIIS 2.0 program.
According to people with knowledge of the situation, India is in negotiations with Germany’s KfW Bank and France’s AFD development agency about a €100 million loan to support the nation’s urban infrastructure plan or AMRUT project.
The loan is scheduled for negotiation in early 2024, with a signing anticipated in February. This comes after the nations’ previous cooperation on the four-year City Investments to Innovate, Integrate, and Sustain, or CITIIS 2.0 program. Both nations committed €100 million to this initiative, which was focused on sustainable waste management and urban redevelopment.
“The program envisages to support competitively selected projects promoting circular economy with a focus on integrated waste management at the city level, climate-oriented reform actions at the State level, and institutional strengthening and knowledge dissemination at the national level,” stated the Union Cabinet, which approved the plan in May 2023.
India has previously received funding for urban regeneration initiatives from Germany and France. The AFD of France was included in the CITIIS 1.0 program, which got underway in 2018. Additionally, it has given the government’s Smart Cities Mission in Chandigarh, Pondicherry, and Nagpur technical know-how. Additionally, metro projects in Bengaluru, Pune, Surat, Nagpur, and Kochi have been funded by it.
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The official development bank from Germany, KfW, has also made investments in metro projects in India. It has given money for Bengaluru’s suburban rail system to be expanded. As previously reported by Mint, KfW intends to provide funding for India’s PM E-Bus Sewa initiative, which intends to install 10,000 electric buses in approximately 170 Indian cities. The government would provide ₹20,000 crore of the estimated Rs. 57,613 crore cost of the plan.
10,000 e-buses will operate in cities under this plan using a Public Private Partnership (PPP) approach. For ten years, bus operations will be supported by this plan.” Anurag Thakur, a union minister, stated in August 2023.
Launched in October 2021, the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) 2.0 aims to deliver universal coverage of sewerage and septage management systems in 500 cities during five years (FY22 to FY26).
The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs had authorized State Water Action Plans (SWAP) for 6,527 projects totaling ₹1.29 trillion by the end of FY23. States and union territories have approved detailed project reports for 2,058 schemes totaling ₹36,481.47 crore.
According to data from the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), the infrastructure mission now offers $7.5 billion in investment prospects.
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