Ahmedabad: Sabarmati Riverfront Development Corporation Limited (SRFDCL) has been loaned a sum of Rs 350 crore by HUDCO at 9.75% interest rate. The loan will not only help speed up construction activity at riverfront but also save SRFDCL Rs 30 crore annually in the coming years. In late 90s, HUDCO had agreed to lend SRFDCL Rs 550 crore at a huge 13 per cent interest, Rs 200 crore of which was given as first instalment. This was totally unnecessary as the project had just began. The Rs 550-crore loan was a financial burden on SRFDCL. After over a decade, HUDCO rate of interest was re-negotiated and brought down to 11 per cent in May this year and then down to 9.75 per cent two months later. It was here that AMC agreed to give SRFDCL a Rs 200-crore interestfree bridge loan to pay off the interests of the earlier HUDCO loan. AMC bridge money in the long run was to help pull down cost of the riverfront project from Rs 1,179 crore to a little less than Rs 1,000 crore. Till now, SRFDCL has spent a little above Rs 400 crore in the project.