After apparently dithering on funding Delhi metro's phase III, the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has agreed to extend financial assistance to the project that envisages adding 105 kilometre to the existing 200 km network.

“It has been decided. I was told by (DMRC chief) E Sreedharan that Japanese funding has been tied up,” chief minister Sheila Dikshit told reporters.

The chief minister said her government will give its share of total cost to the crucial project. However, she did not specify the amount.

JICA has funded the Phase-I and Phase-II of the Delhi metro and is also funding other Metro projects in the country.

Phase-III is likely to be implemented at a cost of Rs 28,000 crore with six corridors coming up and the Metro network will expand by another 105 km.

Sources said the JICA has given positive indications that it will fund the project. But a formal communication has not been sent by the centre to JICA asking it to fund.

“The formal communication has to be sent by the Government of India after it approves the Phase-III project. That has to be done by the government," the sources said.

The Phase-III proposal is currently being examined by a group of ministers of the centre and the formal approval for it is expected in the coming months.

Sources said the Phase-III is likely to be implemented at 40:60 debt equity ratio whereas the Delhi and central governments will contribute 20 per cent each of the total project cost.

While five per cent can be raised through property development, the rest is likely to be raised through loans from agencies like JICA.

Delhi government has been trying to get the Delhi development authority (DDA) to partly fund the Phase-III but the efforts are understood to have failed with Dikshit today indicating that the Delhi government will give its portion.

The planning commission was also of the view that DDA should partly fund the Phase-III so that the debt equity ratio can be reduced to 50:50.

The chief minister said the high speed airport service line will become operational within a month and depending on its functioning the government may opt for more such PPP lines in the fourth phase of Metro expansion.

She said the fourth phase of Delhi metro will bring far-flung colonies closer to each other.