New Development Bank (NDB)

Why in News?

• Government of India & NDB Sign Agreement for USD 500 Million to Provide Fast, Reliable, Safe and Comfortable Public Transport System in the National Capital Region.

About

• The Government of India, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, National Capital Region Transport Corporation Limited and the New Development Bank (NDB) signed a loan agreement for lending USD 500 million for the ‘Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut Regional Rapid Transit System Project (RRTS)’
• It will provide fast, reliable, safe and comfortable public transport system in the National Capital Region (NCR).
• The agreement was signed by Shri Baldeo Purushartha, Joint Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance on behalf of the Government of India; Shri Janardan Prasad on behalf of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Shri Vinay Kumar Singh,Managing Director on behalf of the National Capital Region Transport Corporation Limited and Mr.Xian Zhu,VicePresident, Chief Operations Officer on behalf of the NDB.
• NDB funding will be provided to finance rolling stock for modern design, energy efficient operations and interoperability across corridors.
• NDB funds will also be utilized for procuring signalling, telecommunication and train control system with advanced features such as automatic train operation, automatic train protection, automatic train supervision and integration with platform screen doors.
• The Project can serve as a demonstration for developing high capacity rapid urban transit corridors in other urban areas of India.
• The total project cost is estimated at USD 3,749 million, which will be financed by the NDB (USD 500 million), Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (USD 500 million), Asian Development Bank (USD 1,049 million), Japan Fund for Poverty Reduction (USD 3 million), and Government and Other sources (USD 1,707 million). The USD 500 million loans from the NDB have tenure of 25 years with an 8-year grace period.

Significance of the RRTS Project

• The NCR is among the world’s largest urban agglomerations and a major economic centre of India. Due to lack of efficient public transport options, the number of private vehicles in NCR has increased.
• The daily passenger traffic along the Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut corridor in NCR is estimated at 0.69 million, of which 63% utilize private vehicles for commuting.
• Due to traffic congestion, it can take about 3 to 4 hours to travel between Delhi and Meerut in Uttar Pradesh by road during peak hours.
• Rapid growth in vehicular traffic has made NCR one of the most polluted regions in the world. By 2030, NCR is projected to become the most populous urban agglomeration in the world, which will increase pressure on basic infrastructure such as housing, water supply, electricity and transport.
• Fast transit system will support in achieving the goal of sustainable urban development in NCR region including National Capital Territory of Delhi.
• It will activate processes which will enable sustainable economic and social development with environmental protection, for future generations.
• The environment friendly and very low emission RRTS will carry many times more people at high speed (average speed 100 kmph) while occupying just 3 m space on land thus reducing congestion on the roads. Overall it will significantly reduce the total emissions from the transport sector in NCR.

New Development Bank (NDB)

• It is a multilateral development bank operated by the BRICS states (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) headquartered at Shanghai, China
• It was jointly founded by the BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) at the 6th BRICS Summit in Fortaleza, Brazil in 2014.
• It was formed to support infrastructure and sustainable development efforts in BRICS and other underserved, emerging economies for faster development through innovation and cutting-edge technology.
• In 2018, the NDB received observer status in the United Nations General Assembly, establishing a firm basis for active and fruitful cooperation with the UN.

Function

The New Development Bank will mobilise resources for infrastructure and sustainable development projects in BRICS and other emerging economies and developing countries, to supplement existing efforts of multilateral and regional financial institutions for global growth and development.