Japan, an important funding source for India's growth story, has urged New Delhi to unravel the red tape holding up big-ticket infrastructure projects that it is ready to fund.
Akihiko Tanaka, president of Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), told ET that he has urged finance minister P Chidambaram to speed up project approvals, as their execution cannot start without paperwork. Tanaka had met Chidambaram on Monday.
Japan has extended Yen 2,065 billion or $21 billion (at today's exchange rate) in aid to India over the last 10 years since 2002, helping put on track a host of infrastructure projects such as Delhi's showcase metro rail. Among the projects now being funded by the country are the western freight and Delhi-Mumbai industrial corridors, Line-3 in Mumbai Metro's first phase and development of highways in Bihar.
"We cannot start a project without signing the loan agreement. I have asked the finance minister to make necessary arrangements so that the loan agreements for the four major projects can go on in a timely manner," Tanaka said. "All four projects are quite important, so I asked him to arrange the Cabinet meeting and other processes to make the final approvals of foreign loan programs."
The four projects referred to by Tanaka are the Mumbai Metro Line-3 project, widening of highways in Bihar to four lanes, a $137-million investment promotion programme in Tamil Nadu and the development of Indian Institute of Technology's Hyderabad campus through a $186 million loan.
Tanaka's comment assumes significance in the backdrop of the recent meeting between Manmohan Singh and his Japanese counterpart, Shinzo Abe, at which Japan committed $747 million for the Mumbai Metro line and extended a yen loan equivalent of $3.7 billion for eight other projects.
Japan has often voiced concern over the tardy pace of pace of approvals. JICA's chief representative in India Shinya Ejima, had earlier told ET that going forward, the agency would only sign loan deals if approvals, such as environment clearances and most of the land acquisition, are in place.
"My visit is a follow-up of the meeting between the Indian and Japanese PMs. I met the FM and have reviewed the progress of co-operative projects and discussed future prospects of cooperation between India and JICA," Tanaka said.
Tanaka said he expected better progress on the $90-billion Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor, which was reviewed by the two PMs. The national highway improvement plan for Bihar involves widening of the NH 82 along the Buddhist circuit. JICA has been ready to fund these projects since 2010, but they are yet to get Cabinet clearance. "I may be wrong, but Bihar, perhaps, is not a particularly attractive place for private sector investment. So for development in Bihar, there is room for institutions like us, which specialise in development assistance," Tanaka said.
The bulk of JICA's aid to India so far has been for the infrastructure sector-about 49% of its assistance since 2002 has gone into transportation projects and 20% to power sector.
Akihiko Tanaka, president of Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), told ET that he has urged finance minister P Chidambaram to speed up project approvals, as their execution cannot start without paperwork. Tanaka had met Chidambaram on Monday.
Japan has extended Yen 2,065 billion or $21 billion (at today's exchange rate) in aid to India over the last 10 years since 2002, helping put on track a host of infrastructure projects such as Delhi's showcase metro rail. Among the projects now being funded by the country are the western freight and Delhi-Mumbai industrial corridors, Line-3 in Mumbai Metro's first phase and development of highways in Bihar.
"We cannot start a project without signing the loan agreement. I have asked the finance minister to make necessary arrangements so that the loan agreements for the four major projects can go on in a timely manner," Tanaka said. "All four projects are quite important, so I asked him to arrange the Cabinet meeting and other processes to make the final approvals of foreign loan programs."
The four projects referred to by Tanaka are the Mumbai Metro Line-3 project, widening of highways in Bihar to four lanes, a $137-million investment promotion programme in Tamil Nadu and the development of Indian Institute of Technology's Hyderabad campus through a $186 million loan.
Tanaka's comment assumes significance in the backdrop of the recent meeting between Manmohan Singh and his Japanese counterpart, Shinzo Abe, at which Japan committed $747 million for the Mumbai Metro line and extended a yen loan equivalent of $3.7 billion for eight other projects.
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Japan has often voiced concern over the tardy pace of pace of approvals. JICA's chief representative in India Shinya Ejima, had earlier told ET that going forward, the agency would only sign loan deals if approvals, such as environment clearances and most of the land acquisition, are in place.
"My visit is a follow-up of the meeting between the Indian and Japanese PMs. I met the FM and have reviewed the progress of co-operative projects and discussed future prospects of cooperation between India and JICA," Tanaka said.
Tanaka said he expected better progress on the $90-billion Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor, which was reviewed by the two PMs. The national highway improvement plan for Bihar involves widening of the NH 82 along the Buddhist circuit. JICA has been ready to fund these projects since 2010, but they are yet to get Cabinet clearance. "I may be wrong, but Bihar, perhaps, is not a particularly attractive place for private sector investment. So for development in Bihar, there is room for institutions like us, which specialise in development assistance," Tanaka said.
The bulk of JICA's aid to India so far has been for the infrastructure sector-about 49% of its assistance since 2002 has gone into transportation projects and 20% to power sector.
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