News Brief
Maha Metro (CMO Maharashtra/Twitter) (Representative Image)
At a meeting chaired by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Wednesday (3 September), the Maharashtra Cabinet paved the way for raising loans to fund several metro projects across the state, including Pune extensions, the Thane Circular line and Phase-2 of the Nagpur Metro, according to an official release.
Among the projects covered are the Pimpri-Chinchwad to Nigdi corridor, the Swargate to Katraj stretch, the Vanaz to Chandni Chowk and Ramwadi to Wagholi (Vitthalwadi) extensions, and the newly planned Pune Metro Route-4 connecting Khadakwasla, Swargate, Hadapsar and Kharadi.
A sub-route from Nal Stop to Warje-Manikbagh has also been included. Alongside these, the Thane Circular Metro and Nagpur Metro Phase-2 will receive similar financial backing.
All of these corridors had already been approved by the state in earlier meetings.
According to officials, the projects will be eligible to secure loans at soft interest rates from bilateral and multilateral financial institutions, or other approved lenders.
The repayment of principal, interest and related charges will rest with the project agencies. Approval was given in the meeting held today to provide government guarantee, if necessary, in connection with this loan.