Will reduce land acquisition requirement by 2,718 acres and save Rs 300 crore.
Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee has redrawn the alignment of the ambitious dedicated freight corridor (DFC) project in order to utilise 12,000 acres of railway land bank and reduce land acquisition problems.
The new route, which would run parallel to the existing railway line, would reduce the land acquisition requirement by 2,718 acres and save Rs 300 crore, the minister said.
Presenting the Railway Budget for 2011-12 in the Parliament on Friday, the minister said realignment was carried out considering the sensitivity of the land issue. “With the objective of reducing the number of land losers, we have made efforts to bring the alignment of DFC parallel to the existing railway network and thereby, using 12,000 acres from railways land bank,” she added.
The minister proposed an allocation of Rs 965 crore towards DFC project for 2011-12, as compared to the revised Budget estimate of Rs 257.56 crore for 2010-11. However, the revised estimate was lower than Rs 281.13 crore, the budgetary allocation made last year.
The government plans to execute the project through private-public partnership with its special purpose vehicle, Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India Ltd (DFCCIL). The eastern and western corridors, which got the Cabinet approval in 2007, are the first projects to be taken up by DFCCIL.
According to Banerjee, the main loan agreement for phase-I of western corridor with Japan International Cooperation Agency has been signed and bidding process for civil and track work has commenced. For the eastern corridor, the appraisal by World Bank for Khurja-Bhaupur section would be carried out next month, the minister added.
Stating that the work from Dankuni end on the eastern corridor has already started, the minister wanted the DFC project to be completed by December 2016, as scheduled.
