NEW DELHI, AUG 7: The Mumbai urban infrastructure financing project submitted by the Mumbai metropolitan development authority (MMRDA) has been held up by the World Bank.

Giving this information to Rajya Sabha in reply to a question here on Thursday, Minister of state for urban affairs U Venkateswarlu said that after the project proposal was sent by the Government of India to the World Bank for consideration, an IBRD mission visited Mumbai and held discussions with the state government officials. However, the World Bank subsequently adivsed the concerned agencies to hold off the project preparation work until agreements on institutional arrangements were finalised.

Giving details about the proposed MMRDA fund, the Minister said the proposal was to set up a trust and float infrastructure fund. It would have an initial corpus from the Government of India, MMRDA, Government of Maharashtra and financial institutions like HDFC and ICICI.

A separate asset management company is to be established to manage the fund independently within the broad guidelines prescribed by the trust. The corpus of the trust fund is proposed to be shared by financial institutions and Government of India, Government of Mahrashtra along with MMRDA in the ratio of 51:49.

The initial corpus would be eventually augmented by obtaining contributions from agencies like Sicom, MIDC, Cidco etc and also from other financial institutions.

The equity base of the asset management company would be smaller which will be shared by the financial institutions and Government of India, Government of Maharashtra along with MMRDA in the same proportions as in the case of the corpus.

The board of trustees will comprise of five personsone nominee each of HDFC and ICICI, one nominee each of the Government of India, Government of Maharashtra and MMRDA.

As for the composition of the asset management company, it will comprise of one nominee each of HDFC, ICICI and IL and FS, one nominee each of the Government of India, Government of Maharashtra and MMRDA, two experts in the field of urban infrastructure. The chief executive officer will be jointly selected by the financial institutions, Government of India, MMRDA and the Government of Maharashtra.

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