The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Government of India today signed a $500 million loan, the first tranche of a total $1 billion facility, to build a modern, high-speed 82-kilometer Delhi-Meerut Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS) corridor that will improve regional connectivity and mobility in India’s national capital region (NCR).

The signatories to the loan agreement for the Delhi-Meerut RRTS Investment Project were Shri Sameer Kumar Khare, Additional Secretary (Fund Bank and ADB), Department of Economic Affairs in the Ministry of Finance who signed for the Government of India, and Mr. Kenichi Yokoyama, Country Director of ADB’s India Resident Mission who signed for ADB. The first tranche loan will support 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 Shri Khare after signing the agreement. “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.”

“The project is expected to have a transformational impact on the development trajectory of the national capital region by introducing high-level technologies for RRTS, signaling, and station designs,” Mr. Yokoyama said. “Besides, the project will also support transit-oriented development (TOD) with systematic urban and land use planning around the RRTS corridor while promoting value capture financing (VCF) to generate additional municipal revenues.”

With a design speed of 180 km per hour and high-frequency operations of every 5–10 minutes, the 82-km corridor connecting Sarai Kale Khan in Delhi to Modipuram in Meerut in Uttar Pradesh is expected to reduce the journey time to about 1 hour from the present 3–4 hours. The RRTS will have multimodal hubs to ensure smooth interchange with other transport modes.

The first tranche financing will be used for constructing electrified tracks, signaling systems, multimodal hubs and stations with design features that are friendly to elderly, women, children and the disabled. It will also support the National Capital Region Transport Corporation (NCRTC) in drafting action plans on TOD, VCF instruments and public-private partnership (PPP) initiatives, setting up a smart-technology based platform, and formulating a gender-friendly workplace policy.

A $3 million grant from ADB’s Japan Fund for Poverty Reduction will support various activities, including provision of visual, hearing and mobility aids, such as wheelchairs for differently abled persons. Training for women and differently abled on safe mobility and employment opportunities and behavioral change for public transport providers will also be given. The ADB-administered multi-donor Urban Climate Change Resilience Trust Fund will provide $2.89 million to support innovations in building information modeling, universal access design features, TOD and VCF.

ADB is committed to achieving a prosperous, inclusive, resilient, and sustainable Asia and the Pacific, while sustaining its efforts to eradicate extreme poverty. Established in 1966, it is owned by 68 members-49 from the region.

Infrastructure financing for regional transit supports transit-oriented development and value capture financing to boost municipal revenues. ADB provided sovereign financing to construct electrified tracks, signaling, multimodal hubs and accessible stations for the Delhi-Meerut RRTS, coupled with institutional support requiring adoption of high-level technologies, multimodal integration, and operational standards; the project promotes transit-oriented development and value capture financing, envisages PPP instruments and a smart-technology platform, and is supplemented by grants for universal access, training for women and persons with disabilities, and resilience and building information modeling innovations.