BRICS' bank approves USD 646 mn loan for infra projects in Andhra Pradesh

BRICS' New Development Bank (NDB) has sanctioned USD 646 million for infrastructure projects in Andhra Pradesh. The projects will address the road network issues in Andhra Pradesh by widening roads and reconstructing weak and narrow bridges to provide all-weather road network connectivity.

The NDB will provide two loans of USD 323 million each for the Andhra Pradesh Roads and Bridges Reconstruction Project (APRBRP) and the Andhra Pradesh Mandal Connectivity and Rural Connectivity Improvement Project (APMCRCIP) respectively, a press release by the Shanghai-headquartered bank said on Monday. The NDB - floated by Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) - is headed by renowned Indian banker K V Kamath.

The loans, which would be channelled through the Indian government, are part of about USD 1.4 billion loans approved for the member countries at the bank's 21st Board of Directors (BoD) held in Shanghai on September 12. The APRBRP comprises widening of about 1,600 km of state highways from single and intermediate lanes to double lanes and reconstructing 269 bridges on the state highway network.

The APMCRCIP plans to widen about 1,400 km of district roads from single and intermediate lanes to double lanes and reconstructing 206 bridges on the district road network. Earlier in an interview to PTI, NBD Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Leslie Maasdorp had said that the bank has approved a total of 37 projects for all the five BRICS counties.

"India is number two in terms of approvals now -- I'd say about 29 per cent of our entire approved loans (totalling USD 10.2 billion), almost a third of that is in India," he had said. China stands first with 38 per cent of approvals.

According to the bank, the approved projects for India included Assam Bridge (USD 300 million), Mumbai Metro Rail (USD 260 million), Madhya Pradesh roads project (USD 350 million), Madhya Pradesh Bridges project (USD 175 million), Bihar rural roads project (USD 350 million), Rajasthan Water project (USD 345 million) and Madhya Pradesh water supply project (USD 470 million).