New Delhi, 21 January 2013

The Minister of Railways, Shri Pawan Kumar Bansal reviewed the implementation of Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC) projects in India being implemented by Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India (DFCCIL), the fully owned Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) of Ministry of Railways specially constituted for the purpose.

Shri R K Gupta Managing Director DFCCIL made a detailed presentation. The Minister of Railways alongwith Chairman, Railway Board, Shri Vinay Mittal, and the Members of Indian Railway Board took stock of the current status of various activities involved in the project implementation and also discussed various issues having critical impact on the project implementation.

One of the notable features reflected during the review as acquisition of 7968 hectares of land constituting over 82 per cent which marks achievement of a major landmark of 80 per cent land acquisition stipulated by the funding agencies, e.g. World Bank, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).

It was appreciated that approximately 8000 hectares of land over 9 States and 61 Districts has been acquired in a span of less than three years, which is very remarkable. The remaining 18 per cent land acquisition is also progressing steadily.

DFCCIL officials also highlighted the current procurement status for physical execution of works indicating that contract for railway track works over 1000 kms is expected to be awarded in coming months making the physical execution visible at the ground level.

Shri Vinay Mittal apprised the Railway Minister regarding the remarkable achievement of project authorities in obtaining environmental clearance of two Wild Life Sanctuaries and one Bird Sanctuary within 10 to 16 months, which has been possible due to active support and cooperation of the State Governments of Gujarat and Maharashtra and their Forest and Environment officials.

The Union Ministry of Forest and Environment has also provided necessary assistance by lending the services of an experienced officer to assist DFC project authorities and guide them in processing various forest and environment clearances. The inter-ministerial cooperation has been very effective for the DFC project in this respect. Shri Mittal also pointed out that DFCCIL has successfully complied with stringent requirement of social impact assessment and its mitigation as stipulated by funding agencies like World Bank and JICA.

The initial timelines of commissioning of the entire project by December 2016 for both Eastern and Western Corridors stipulated at the time of approval of the project were also reviewed in the light of the subsequent developments of requirement of environmental clearances, processes involved and the ground realities encountered in the project implementation.

It was brought out by the project authorities before the Railway Minister that due to sequential progressive processing of different phases of the project by both World Bank and JICA and course correction in the alignment due to various reasons, the commissioning of DFC would now be achieved in phases varying from December 2015 depending on the availability of funds and funding arrangement being tied up wherever it is yet to be concluded.

The Railway Minister emphasized the importance of DFC project to be implemented and commissioned at the earliest and the DFCCIL project authorities assured that no stone will be left unturned with the support and assistance of the Ministry of Railways to achieve this mega project of national importance.

Importance of DFC for Gujarat

-DFC is a new rail transportation system with high axel, multi-modal and computerised features
-38% (564 km) of the 1500 kms length of DFC will pass through Gujarat
-DMIC area to be developed as ‘Global Manufacturing & Trading Hub’ in two phases (6 nodes) – supported by world class infrastructure & enabling policy framework
-Expected to triple industrial output in five years
-The influence area covers 62% of total area of Gujarat (18 out of 26 districts are within the influence area)
-Investment potential for Gujarat is about US$ 30bn (1/3rd of total investment potential in DMIC)

Also read:Amitabh Kant on DMIC, Dholera and future Singapore in Gujarat(Video)