The railway minister may have announced new dedicated freight corridors but the perception is that the two corridors already approved -- the Rs 40,000 crore (Rs 400 billion) eastern and western freight corridors -- seem to be on the slow track.
"That is not our perception," said a senior railway ministry official, adding that land acquisition for the project and funding was likely to be completed within a year.
The government has already approved development of the 1,804-km eastern dedicated freight corridor (from Ludhiana to Kolkata via Dankuni) and the 1,483-km western dedicated freight corridor from Mumbai to New Delhi running through Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Haryana. The two will interlink at Khurja in Uttar Pradesh.
Land acquisition for the two, totalling about 3,300 km in length, is one of the key challenges. "Land acquisition is progressing well. The first round of issuing notices for 80 per cent of the land has been completed," said the official.
Land acquisition is being aided by the Railway Amendment Act, passed in 2008. This Act incidentally incorporates the provisions of the 2007 national rehabilitation and resettlement policy for project-affected families. "Most of the land procurement will be complete by 2010," said the official.
As for the funding, a soft loan of Rs 20,000 crore (Rs 200 billion) from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) for the western freight corridor has already got an in-principle approval. A part of this loan (Rs 13,700 crore or Rs 137 billion) for the Rewari-Vadodra stretch on the western corridor is in the final stages of approval. "The loan agreement for this stretch will be signed by December," said the official.
For the eastern corridor, a loan of Rs 10,000 crore (Rs 100 billion) is being sought from the World Bank, besides a Rs 2,500 crore (Rs 25 billion) loan from the Asian Development Bank.
"We have an in-principle approval for Rs 20,000 crore from JICA for the western corridor and are negotiating another Rs 12,500 crore (Rs 125 billion) for the eastern corridor. The rest will be managed by us," said the official.
Meanwhile, construction has begun on these corridors, which are being developed by Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation Ltd (DFCCL), set up about three years ago as a special purpose vehicle.
One contract for each corridor has been signed for construction of bridges on land that is already available with the government. "The contract is worth Rs 781 crore (Rs 7.81 billion) on the eastern corridor and Rs 605 crore (Rs 6.05 billion) on the western corridor," said a senior official of DFCCL.
On the western corridor, the contract is for construction of 54 bridges on one stretch and was awarded to Hyderabad-based Soma Enterprises in December last year. The contract for construction of bridges on a stretch of the eastern corridor was also awarded in December.
Once all the land is in the government kitty and funding is tied up, the work is likely to be accelerated. The first dedicated freight train is, however, unlikely to run before 2017.
DFCCL would also develop the corridors that the railway minister talked about when presenting the rail budget, added the official.
The budget has earmarked Rs 1,880 crore (Rs 18.80 billion) for the freight corridor project this year.
The freight corridors are to be flanked by industrial corridors -- the Delhi-Mumbai industrial corridor and the eastern industrial corridor -- and logistics parks to be developed on a public-private-partnership basis.