New railway line projects that are in various stages of implementation in Odisha need an investment of Rs 8820 crore for commissioning. The projects include seven new railway lines, one gauge conversion (90-km Rupasa-Bangiriposi) and 16 doubling lines.
Of the total estimated cost of Rs 12,761 crore for these projects, an expenditure of Rs 3941.35-crore has been incurred till March 2012, Railways minister Pawan Kumar Bansal had recently informed Renubala Pradhan, Rajya Sabha MP from Odisha in a written reply.
The outlay for these projects for 2012-13 was a meager Rs 677.01 crore.
Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik had recently written a letter to Prime Minister and Railways Minister urging them to allocate a substantial portion of the Rs 14,000 crore revenue the railways stands to earn from its operations in the state in the ensuing budget.
“The Railways has huge carry forward of ongoing projects with limited availability of resources as a result of which resources are thinly spread, prolonging period of completion. Targets are fixed annually depending on availability of resources and progress of individual projects”, Bansal said.
During 2012-13, Khurda Road-Bugunia (32 km) new line, nine km sretch of Lanjigarh-Junagarh new line, Garhmadopur-Jenapur-Jakhapur doubling (14 km) and Jharsuguda-Brundamal-Rengali doubling (25.6 km) sections were targeted for completion among projects falling fully or partially in Odisha.
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The minister stated that while Rs 2926.31-crore was required to complete the new lines, Rs 467 crore was needed for gauge conversation and Rs 5425.95 crore for completion of the doubling line projects.
According to Bansal, the outlay for the new lines and doubling in 2011-12 was Rs 583.40 crore and Rs 569.97 crore respectively.
Out of Rs 106 crore earmarked for 2012-13 for the new lines, Rs 89.79 crore was spent by October 2012.
For doubling, out of Rs 542.50 crore outlay, Rs 110.15-crore expenditure was logged by the same period.
The funds required for the completion of the newline ongoing projects in Odisha are 98.7-km Angul-Sukinda (Rs 576.07 crore), 155-km Daitari-Bansapani (Rs 301.69-crore), 41-km Digha-Jaleswar with, 82-km Haridaspur-Paradeep (Rs 847.76-crore), 289-km Khurda Road-Bolangir (Rs 264.07 crore), 56-km Langigarh-Junagarh (Rs 33.10-crore) and 154-km Talcher-Bimalagarh (Rs 700.78-crore).
Similarly, the funds required for the doubling projects include 180-km Bansapani-Daitari-Jakhapura (Rs 871.57-crore), nine-km Bansapani-Jaroli (Rs 24. 50 crore), 80-km Bhadrak-Nirgundi third line (Rs 558.67 crore), Bimalagarh-Dumitra (Rs 26-crore), Brundamal-Jharsuguda (Rs 71.66-crore), 21-km Chamapajharan-Bimalagarh (Rs 172.25 crore), 165-km Champa-Jharsugarha third line (Rs 955.57 crore), 12-km Cuttack-Baranga (Rs 22.63 crore), 28.7-km Puri-Delang (Rs 134.96 crore), 25.6-km Jharsuguda-Rengali (Rs 53.59 crore).
The 35-km third line of Khurda Road-Baranga (Rs 1.01 crore), 30-km Manoharapur-Bondamunda third line (Rs 258.20-crore) 203-km Raipur-Titilagarh (Rs 790.47 crore), 20-km Rajatgarh-Baranga (Rs 20.50 crore), 174.11 km Sambalapur-Talcher (Rs 613.27 crore) and 182-km Sambalpur-Titlagarh (Rs 851.10 crore).