JICA, IIFCL ink pact to finance PPP

Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has inked a pact with India Infrastructure Finance Company Limited (IIFCL) to provide 50 billion Japanese yen (about Rs.2,866 crore) of official development assistance (ODA) for implementation of infrastructure projects in PPP.
The ODA loan conditions are concessional, i.e. the repayment period is fourteen years after a grace period of six years, and the rate of interest is floating rate of the London interbank offered rate for six month deposits in Japanese yen.
The pact was signed between Takema Sakamoto, chief representative of JICA India and Sanjeev Ghai, Chief General Manager of IIFCL. ‘The assistance will promote PPP-based infrastructure development mainly in the field of non-fossil power projects by providing long-term finance to private and public enterprises and the banks and public financial institutions to lend to private and public enterprises for invest-¡ment to viable infrastructure projects,’ a statement by JICA noted.