France gives pound 130m loan for Peshawar bus project.

The French government has decided to provide a soft loan of 130 million euros (Rs19.5 billion) for the Peshawar Sustainable Bus Rapid Transit Corridor Project.

Economic Affairs DiviAsion Secretary Noor Ahmed, Ambassador of France Marc Barety and Country DirecAtor of the French Development Agency (AFD) Jacky AmAprou signed the credit facility agreement here on Tuesday.

The Executive CommitAtee of National Economic Council had approved the revised PC-1 of the project in November last year, while the federal cabinet accorded approval to the signing of the agreement with the AFD early this month. The AFD and Asian Development Bank have co-financed the project.

The revised cost of the project is Rs66.437bn ($593m), including foreign exchange component of Rs53.32bn shared by the ADB and AFD. The project will contribute to the government's strategy to resolve the issues of urban transportation.

It will provide safe, efficient and comfortable user-friendly mass transit system, which will be well integrated with the existing transport facilities. It will also help in improving energy efficiency and air quality through reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.

To date, the AFD has committed 880m euros...