Loan deed with JICA for Madurai AIIMS may be signed by March

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.

This was stated in the replies to the RTI queries raised by activist R Pandiaraja, who has been following up the issue. The signing of the memorandum was earlier supposed to take place in December but was delayed due to Covid-19. According to the replies that came on Thursday, meetings with officials of Japan international cooperation agency (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 reply stated. JICA will be providing 85% of the total cost of establishment of the new AIIMS in Madurai, the reply said and added that total cost of the project is around Rs 2,000 crore. However total cost of the project as mentioned in the reply is much more than the Rs 1,264 crore mentioned in the previous reply.

To a separate RTI petition from the petitioner, 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% 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.