MADURAI: The department of health and family welfare has stated that the loan agreement between the Governments of India and Japan for the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Madurai is likely to be signed by March 2021.
The department disclosed this in its replies on Thursday to the RTI queries raised by activist R Pandiaraja.
Signing of the memorandum that was to take place in December was delayed due to Covid-19.
According to the replies, meetings with officials of Japan International Cooperation Agency's (JICA) India office and other officials of JICA in Japan are going on in this connection.
The last meeting in this regard was held on December 24.
The JICA will be providing 85 per cent of the total cost of establishment of the new AIIMS in Madurai, it said adding that total cost of the project is around Rs 2,000 crore. However, the total cost of the project as mentioned in the reply is much more than Rs 1,264 crore mentioned in its previous reply.
To a separate RTI petition from Pandiaraja, M/s HLL Infra Tech Services (HITES) Limited, the executing agency for the pre-investment activities, stated that activities such as soil investigation and topographic survey have been completed.
It also stated that estimated value of the boundary wall is Rs 9.6 crore and that 90 per cent of the boundary wall construction has been completed.
Pandiaraja said that the reply from the ministry has given hope that the project will soon commence.
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