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Saturday, October 23, 2010

R-Infra raises Rs 7k cr for Mumbai Metro project


MUMBAI: Reliance Infrastructure said on Thursday that it has tied up debt totalling Rs7,000 crore for developing the second Metro rail project in Mumbai, connecting the suburbs of Charkop, Bandra and Mankhurd. The total project cost is Rs11,500 crore.

Mumbai Metro Transport Private , the special purpose vehicle implementing the Charkop-Bandra-Mankhurd corridor, tied up the debt with seven financiers led by Axis Bank , the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group company said in a statement.

The SPV is owned by the Reliance Infrastructure-led consortium, which includes Reliance Communications and SNC Lavalin of Canada.

“We have tied up the entire Rs7,000 crore of debt funding and are ready to achieve financial closure for the project within the stipulated nine months period in the concession agreement. The average rate of interest on the debt is 10.5-11.0%,” Lalit Jalan, chief executive officer of Reliance Infra told ET.

The project, which is being set up under the public-private partnership model, would receive a viability gap funding of Rs2,298 crore from the Maharashtra government, while the balance amount would be infused by Reliance Infrastructure through equity contribution.

Reliance Infrastructure is executing the project on a build-operate-transfer basis, for a concession period of 35 years with an extension clause of another 10 years.

The project entails setting up a 32 km metro rail line connecting Charkop in northern Mumbai to Bandra in the west and then to Mankhurd in the eastern part of Mumbai. The route will have 27 stations. “We hope to start construction on the second metro line by December. As per our agreement, the project would be completed in five years from the beginning of construction,” Mr Jalan said.

Reliance Infrastructure is also executing the first Metro rail project in Mumbai on the Versova-Andheri-Ghatkopar route. That project would be completed ahead of schedule in 2011, the company said. After the transfer of its power generation units, except the 500 MW plant at Dahanu in Maharahstra, and upcoming power projects to group company Reliance Power , infrastructure projects have become the key growth area for Reliance Infrastructure. On Thursday, Reliance Infrastructure’s scrip ended at Rs1,074.70 on BSE, down 2.02%.

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