NEW DELHI, Sept. 8 (Xinhua) -- The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Indian government on Tuesday signed a 500-million-U.S. dollar loan, the first tranche of a total of one billion U.S. dollars to improve connectivity in the national capital region (NCR), which comprises of capital Delhi and its surrounding areas.
According to a statement issued by the federal finance ministry, the loan amount would be spent on building a modern, high-speed 82-km rail corridor between Delhi and Meerut, a town in the neighbouring state of Uttar Pradesh.
Named as the "Delhi-Meerut Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS) Corridor", it will improve regional connectivity and mobility. The total cost of the project will be 3.94 billion U.S. dollars, according to media reports.
The first tranche of the loan will support the construction of the first of three priority rail corridors planned under the NCR Regional Plan 2021 to connect Delhi to other cities in adjoining states.
"The project will provide better connectivity to allow other towns in the NCR to develop as urban economic centers surrounded by residential areas while easing the concentration pressure on Delhi," said Additional Secretary in the Economic Affairs Department of the Finance Ministry Sameer Kumar Khare.
"Development of this corridor will have a huge demonstration effect and pave the way for a paradigm shift in mobility and the pattern of urban development within the region," he added.
With a design speed of 180 km per hour and high-frequency operations of every five to 10 minutes, the 82-km corridor connecting Sarai Kale Khan area in Delhi to Modipuram area in Meerut is expected to reduce the journey time to about one hour from the present three to four hours.
The RRTS will have multimodal hubs to ensure smooth interchange with other transport modes.
The first tranche of the financing will be used for constructing electrified tracks, signaling systems, multimodal hubs and stations with design features that are friendly to the elderly, women, children and the disabled, according to the ministry's statement. Enditem
