The European Investment Bank is keen to expand its association with the Uttar Pradesh Metro Rail Corporation (UPMRC). The move comes at a time when the state is organizing the Global Investors Summit (GIS) in Lucknow.
On Saturday, a six-member EIB delegation team led by Vice President Chris Peters met Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath at his residence. The delegation expressed satisfaction and promised to invest more in upcoming projects.
“We are happy to see the commitment of UPMRC to provide world-class infrastructure and environment-friendly transport system to the people of Uttar Pradesh. We will continue to support UPMRC in further proposed projects on the aspect of finance,” said Peters.
The lending arm of the European Union (EU) is likely to increase investment to 3 billion euros from the current 1.5 billion euros. It is providing financial assistance to three metro projects in the state – Lucknow Metro Project, Kanpur Metro Project and Agra Metro Project.
EIB has provided a loan of Rs 3,502 crore (450 million Euro) to the Lucknow Metro project.
Kanpur Metro Project
For the Kanpur Metro project, the EIB will provide financial assistance of Rs 5,551.99 crore (650 million euros). It has disbursed 200 million Euros in December 2022 to the Government of India for the project.
Agra metro project
For the Agra Metro project, the EIB will provide a loan of 450 million Euros.
Later in the day, the team visited the pavilion stall of UPMRC at GIS in Vrindavan Yojna. Sushil Kumar, MD, UP Metro Rail Corporation briefed the team about the work status of Agra and Kanpur Metro Rail projects. The team also takes a metro ride from Hazratganj to Transport Nagar metro station.
Expansion
The Uttar Pradesh Metro Rail Corporation plans to expand services to six more cities: Gorakhpur, Prayagraj, Varanasi, Jhansi, Bareilly and Meerut.