Several of the do-it-now chief minister’s proposals as railway minister haven’t progressed beyond the foundation-laying stage
Though Banerjee had focused on her “excellent performance” as railway minister in the run-up to the Assembly elections, her achievements were largely restricted to flagging off trains every weekend. Duronto, Yuva and Ladies’ Special were her “gifts” to the people, as mentioned in the party’s manifesto, but much remains to be done as far as rail projects are concerned.
"She (Mamata Banerjee) has kept most of her promises in introducing new trains and internal infrastructure development works like renovation of stations. But progress has not been satisfactory on bigger projects, for various reasons,” a railway official said, adding, “There were over 100 railway functions inaugurating new projects or flagging off new trains in West Bengal in the last six months of her tenure as railway minister. It’s another matter that most of “gifts” were for her home state.”
A major site for railway projects in West Bengal is Dankuni, where the former railway minister laid the foundation stone for factories for the manufacture of electric and diesel engine components in December 2009. The initial deadline for the Rs 262-crore project was January 2011. But Rail Vikas Nigam Ltd (RVNL), which is executing the projects, does not seem to have a clue about when the projects will be completed.(Click here for table)
“All the sites have not been made available yet. We are just the agency that is meant to execute the projects on behalf of the railways. A lot of major decisions to be taken by the railways are still pending,” an official of RVNL said.
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Another project that aroused a lot of initial interest was the Kanchrapara-Halisahar railway complex near Kolkata for the manufacture of 500 coaches per year at an estimated cost of Rs 860 crore.
The project evoked interest from international players. Bombardier, Alstom, Siemens, Kawasaki, CAF Spain, Stadler, Hitachi and Rotem were shortlisted for setting up the rail coach factory.
The project was announced in the 2009-10 railway budget, but no major progress has taken place apart from land measurement and forest department approval for felling of trees at the factory site. The developmental work at the factory site is yet to be completed. The bidding process was scheduled to be completed by January this year, but the bidding papers have yet to get clearances from the Union finance ministry.
“The bidding papers for the Kanchrapara project are still with the finance ministry. The papers go to the ministries of finance and law as they will ensure that the government's interests are secured in the bidding procedure,” officials close to the development said.
The railway ministry also has plans to come up with five wagon factories, to be set up in public private partnership (PPP) or joint venture (JV) mode, including one at Kulti in the Bardhaman district of West Bengal, since Indian Railways is planning to acquire 18,000 wagons.
The Rs 120 crore project, to be executed by Bengal Wagon Industry Ltd, a joint venture company of RITES and SAIL, plans to manufacture 1,200 wagons and rehabilitate 300 wagons annually. The manufacturing unit, scheduled to be commissioned by 2012, is also likely to miss this target. According to officials, it will take “at least another two years from now” to commission the plant.
There are many other projects pending in the West Bengal – a refrigerated container factory at Budge Budge, a metro coach rehabilitation factory at Noapara, a railway electronic components factory in New Cooch Behar, and a Diesel Multiple Unit (DMU) and coach factory at Haldia. But very few of them have progressed beyond the foundation stone laying stage.
Moreover, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) manifesto also mentions a metro coach factory in Singur that the party supremo had proposed in her last Railway Budget speech. However, nothing on this proposal has been heard since the announcement, and when asked about the proposal, a railway official also seemed clueless.
In her last budget, Banerjee announced an annual plan outlay of Rs 57,630 crore for 2011-12, that would have involved market borrowings of Rs 20,000 crore, compared to an annual plan outlay of Rs 40,000 crore in the previous financial year. However, there were specific fund allocations for large-sized rail projects.
According to analysts, funding is not a problem for these projects, but Indian Railways has failed to attract private players to invest in its projects.
“Money is not the problem. Many of the big projects will be done through private sector participation. But when you invite the private sector, you have to treat them as equal partners and see how to make it attractive for them. We find that both of these things are not really happening. No one is interested to come and invest in the railway sector. Either you have to empower organisations like RVNL, outside the railways, so that they can execute the projects, or internally you should have a dedicated department to look after all these projects,” said Vishwas Udgirkar, senior director at Deloitte India.
Several big railway projects in Rae Bareli (in Uttar Pradesh), Chhapra, Muzaffarpur and Mokama (in Bihar) and Kanchrapara (in West Bengal) were pending when Banerjee rose to deliver her budget speech in February this year, leaving a long list of things to be done by her successor.
Newly appointed Minister of State for Railways Mukul Roy, who recently met general managers of three divisional railways in West Bengal – Eastern, South Eastern and Metro – and senior railway officials to review ongoing projects across the state, said, “All the projects announced by Mamata Banerjee as railway minister in her railway budgets in 2008-09, 2009-10 and 2010-11 financial years are being successfully implemented. All the projects will be completed well before time.”
Roy is in charge of railway public sector undertakings, including IRCTC, RVNL, RITES and IRCON.
Banerjee may have been found wanting as the railway minister, but as chief minister she is in a do-it-immediately mood. She has addressed several major issues in the state – be it a new agreement to restore peace in the Hills, returning land to the unwilling farmers at Singur, or revoking an agreement with Tata Motors on grounds of non-performance. But, will her performance as the railway minister be assessed as well?