The railway budget 2012-13 has sought to give a major push to the government’s Rs 90,000-crore Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC) project, through increased equity injection and assurance of smoother land acquisition. The twin measure can check possible delay to the endeavour that aims at boosting freight traffic growth, experts say.
The budget has provided for Rs 2,000 crore investment for land acquisition and equity in DFC for 2012-13. “This will allow us to match the equity infusion levels with the rising loan component in the overall financing,” according to a senior executive from the Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of Indian Ltd (DFCCIL), under the aegis of the rail ministry.
The DFC project covers 3,300 km, including 1,500 km of the western arm along the Delhi-Mumbai stretch between Dadri near Delhi and Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust in Mumbai, traversing through Haryana, Rajasthan and Gujarat. The eastern arm would stretch between Ludhiana and Dankuni in West Bengal.
It requires around 65 per cent of the total 10,700 hectares of land and bidding for civil works has commenced, minister Dinesh Trivedi informed Parliament while presenting the budget on Wednesday. “Contract for civil and track works for 1,000 km on eastern and western DFCs would be awarded during 2012-13,” he added.
DFCCIL would open the technical bids for the 300-km Kanpur-Khurja section on the eastern DFC this month-end. This will be followed by finalising the financial bids in four months. Construction on the stretch would begin in August. Work on another 600-km stretch on the western corridor would commence by December this year.
The DFCCIL executive said the company has already arranged for a $2.5-billion soft debt from the World Bank, and another around 700 million Chinese yuan for funding. Of the Rs 2,000 crore investment lined up in 2012-13, around Rs 1,000 crore would be spent on the Kanpur-Khurja section.
