DU to begin work on East Delhi campus as HEFA approves Rs 930 crore loan for various projects

NEW DELHI: The Delhi University will begin setting up its East Delhi Campus using funds from the loan corpus of Rs 930 crore approved by the Higher Education Financing Agency, the varsity's vice-chancellor Yogesh Singh said. Speaking to PTI on Wednesday, Singh said, "The request for HEFA loan of Rs 930 crore has been approved for various development projects, including work for the East Delhi campus," Singh said.

Higher Education Financing Agency (HEFA) is a joint venture company of Canara Bank and the Ministry of Education. HEFA provides financial assistance for the creation of educational infrastructure and research facilities in India's premier educational Institutions.

A university official said DU's East Delhi Campus is expected to be ready within 2 years after the construction begins. Using the approved loan, an academic building at Surajmal Vihar, which will serve as the university's East Campus, will be built for Rs 120 crore, work for which is slated to start in the next three to six months, the official said.

The university that currently has two campuses -- North and South -- had announced expansion plans a few years back. The plans envisaged the construction of East and West campuses to introduce more courses and a centre for law. After a meeting with the HEFA on Thursday, DU's finance office said a Detailed Project Report (DPR) will be submitted by Monday to start the work on setting up the new campus.

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"A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) will be signed between HEFA and the university for releasing the funds after the DPR is cleared," another official said. DU's finance office will prepare a Detailed Project Report (DPR) based on which the amount will be released for individual projects upon the submission of the bill directly to the vendor, the official said.

The Delhi University is also slated to begin work for constructing academic buildings in Najafgarh and Dwarka for Rs 100 crore and Rs 95 crore respectively, and multiple academic blocks at Delhi School of Economics with Rs 201 crore. Additionally, a studio apartment for students in north-west Delhi's Dhaka for Rs 161 crore is also in the pipeline, officials said.

A total of Rs 195.62 crore of the loaned amount will be used in the construction of the building of the Faculty of Technology, work for which has already begun and would likely be completed by October 2024, they added. The Delhi University had sent a proposal to the Centre for funding the construction of the East campus.

The HEFA loan will be paid in 20 half-yearly instalments by the varsity -- 10 per cent of interest -- will be paid by DU while the remaining interest will be paid by the Centre over a period of 10 years. Asked about how the university would generate funds to pay its share of the loan amount, Singh said the university has sufficient funds to repay the amount. "We have sufficient funds for repaying 10 per cent instalment," he said.

"A slew of development projects in Delhi University are in the pipeline. One of the projects is underway and all of them will be completed in 24 months. Other projects will begin in the next six months," an official said. The money for the payment of tax for these development projects will, however, be released to the Delhi University, as per the official. The proposal to borrow money from the HEFA was accepted by the Executive Council last March despite some members showing dissent.