Rail Vikas Nigam Ltd (RVNL) may pick up stake in the special purpose vehicle (SPV) formed to implement the Rs 5,000-crore coal corridor project planned by the Odisha government for the coal rich Angul-Talcher-Chhendipada belt.
“Railways have evinced interest to acquire stake in the SPV formed for implementing the coal corridor project. We are going to talk to the Railways soon and decide on the issue. The state government will also examine the commercial viability of the project,” said industries & excise minister Niranjan Pujari after a review meeting.
The state government has already given its approval for the SPV named ‘Mahanadi Railway’ for developing a common corridor for rail, water and power in the coal rich Angul-Chhendipada-Talcher region.
The SPV was to be developed as a 50:50 joint venture between OMC and Odisha Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (Idco).
The common corridor will support 10 blocks operating in the Talcher Coalfields under the command area of Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd (MCL).
The development of the 143-km corridor is estimated to cost Rs 5,000 crore and it is expected to handle coal traffic in excess of 100 million tonnes annually.
The proposed corridor will be connected to rail heads at three locations - Jharpada, Angul and Budhapanka. It will have multiple entry and exit points and no surface crossing. Besides, flyovers have also been proposed to avoid cross movements at junction stations. The project is designed to have multi-point centralised loading stations conceived along the corridor rather than individual bulb connections.
More than 50 industries in sectors like steel, aluminium and power sectors are expected to be the beneficiaries of this proposed corridor.
