Pawan Kumar Bansal invites private players to participate in rail projects

NEW DELHI: Highlighting tremendous scope for private investments in rail projects, railway minister Pawan Kumar Bansal on Thursday invited private companies to participate in such ventures, including the Dedicated Freight Corridor ( DFC). Advocating the need to declog the road network in the country, the minister insisted transporting bulk goods through rail instead of roadways as it would be cost effective and environment friendly.

“The 570 km long corridor from Sonnagar to Dankuni in the Eastern DFC will be executed through PPP route,” Bansal said at a conference here. The Eastern and Western corridors of DFC are being constructed covering a length of 3,328 km route for exclusive freight movement in the country. Giving the timeline, Bansal said, “The DFC project has to be completed by 2018 which is an uphill task. There is a tangible progress as 87% land has been acquired. It would cost about Rs95,000 crore including land acquisition cost.”

Highlighting the importance of the DFC, he said, “we need DFC as it is for the growth of our economy. In order to meet the growth we need to encourage private participation.” Currently, the share of railways in goods transportation is 36% whereas in the US and China the share is 48% and 47%, respectively.