Austria Development Bank lends 13mn euros for Namami Gange project in Bengal

Austrian Development Bank OeEB has lent 13 million euros for a sewerage treatment project in West Bengal, an official said on Thursday. Oesterreichische Entwicklungsbank AG (OeEB) has offered the entire amount as loan making it the first European DFI lending for National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG's) Hybrid Annuity Model (HAM) projects.

Vishvaraj Environment Pvt. Ltd (VEPL), the water utility firm executing the project, said that it has received the amount for Namami Gange's sewage water treatment for Maheshtala in South 24 Parganas district, 18 km from here, in HAM /PPP model.

The project cost is to be funded by a mix of NMCG Grant, Equity, and Debt, with the entire project debt of over Euro 13 million to be funded by OeEB and Deloitte is the financial advisor for this transaction, a statement said.


"VEPL, through its subsidiary Maheshtala Waste Water Management Pvt. Ltd. (MWWMPL), had earlier signed a Rs 273 crore HAM concession agreement under the Namami Gange programme administered by the NMCG with Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority (KMDA ) for designing, financing, constructing the sewage treatment plants, pumping stations and other associated infrastructure at Maheshtala," the company said in a statement.

"Market for municipal wastewater management on hybrid annuity-based PPP mode (HAM) is maturing with increasing participation of bidders in every project. We are happy to note Development Bank of Austria's funding for this project which indicates an increasing credibility of the HAM model," NMCG Director General G Asok Kumar said.

Clean water is important for human health, environment, climate, and biodiversity as well as for agricultural productivity and food security, member of OeEB's Executive Board Sabine Gaber said.

"We are therefore happy to support this important project that contributes to the Indian Government's Clean Ganga-programme," Gaber said.