Clean Ganga
Vishvaraj Environment Pvt. Ltd. (VEPL) has completed the Financial Closure for its Hybrid Annuity Model (HAM) project at Maheshtala under the Namami Gange programme administered by the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG).
The project cost is to be funded by a mix of NMCG Grant, Equity and Debt, with entire project debt to be funded by Oesterreichische Entwicklungsbank AG, the Development Bank of Austria (“OeEB”). This transaction marks the first direct lending by a European DFI in NMCG’s HAM projects. Deloitte was the financial advisor for this transaction.
The signing event was conducted at NMCG office on May 25, 2022 in the presence of the Honourable Ambassador of the Republic of Austria to India, Her excellency Katharina Wieser and Mr. Hans-Jörg Hörtnagl , Austrian Trade Commissioner to India.
Speaking on the event, the Austrian Ambassador welcomed the participation of the Austrian development bank in India’s clean ganga mission project which has highly positive social impact on millions of people, and wished for greater participation from Austria in future NMCG projects. She wished best luck to the Vishvaraj group for implementation of this project, and wished for continued Austrian involvement in its future projects. The Austrian trade commissioner mentioned the high level of technical expertise available with Austrian companies in the field of environment protection and wished for greater future participation from Austria in NMCG projects.
Commenting on this signing event, Shri G Ashok Kumar, Director General, NMCG said “ Market for the municipal waste water management on hybrid annuity based PPP mode (HAM) is maturing with increasing bidders participation with every project and is happy to note Development Bank of Austria funding MWWMPL for this project indicating increasing credibility of HAM model. He also expressed hope that MWWMPL shall be able to complete the project well before the schedule and more international funding support comes into the Municipal Waste Water Sector on HAM Model.”
Commenting on this signing event Smt. Antara Acharya of KMDA congratulated the NMCG and VEPL group for achieving financial closure. This project has highly positive social impact for the people of the state of Bengal and would benefit millions of people in the downstream areas.
Commenting on this milestone achievement, Mr. Arun Lakhani, CMD, VEPL said "VEPL is proud to contribute to our Prime Minister's flagship Clean Ganga project. This is a landmark achievement which also marks the first direct lending by a European DFI in a NMCG HAM project. We thank KMDA and NMCG for the confidence reposed in us. We are confident that this milestone achievement will pave the way for further DFI participation in the water ESG project space”
Commenting on the signing event, Sabine Gaber, Member of OeEB’s Executive Board said “Clean water is important for human health, for the environment, climate and biodiversity as well as for agricultural productivity and thus food security. We are therefore happy to support this important project that contributes to the Indian Government’s Clean Ganga-programme.
