DFCCIL’s roadshow for the 263.7 km Sonnagar – Gomoh section of the Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor which is to be developed on Public Private Participation (PPP) mode at an estimated cost of Rs. 9000 crores saw an enthusiastic participation by potential investors at Patnai today.
Around 30 potential investors from BCCI, Bihar Industries , Fooltas , Gammon India Limited , L &T , Infosis, CIL , BCCL,CCL, ECL organisations participated in the investor meet for the section which was inaugurated by MD DFCCIL Shri A K Sachan and Secreaty Industry Bihar Shri N Lal and Director (Op & BD ) DFCCIL Shri Vivek Srivastawa. Prominent participants included NTPC, CCL,BCCL, ECL, Bihar industries etc.
The proposed section traverses through the mineral rich region of the country and serve major power plants, industrial hubs and logistics parks located in Northern India. This project is expected to serve as a benchmark for development of PPP projects by Indian Railways. The section is expected to serve major power houses, industrial corridors and MMLPs in the Haryana, Punjab, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh.
Increasing trends in finished steel consumption and production would drive growth of steel traffic on the route. Further, to attract more traffic and achieve targeted rail share of freight, DFCCIL would develop MMLPs, Sidings and Feeder routes for last mile connectivity along the section alignment. The section is expected to handle 100 Rakes/day in both directions with a total freight traffic of 231 GMT by FY 2045.
The PPP section is backed by guarantee for Annuity Payments with 90% of land to be available at Bid Stage and 98% of the land would be ensured at the time of signing of Concession Agreement. More importantly, the Environmental and Forest clearance would be obtained by DFCCIL before signing of Agreement ensuring the success of the project.
DFCCIL has been set up as a special purpose vehicle to undertake planning, development, mobilization of financial resources, construction, maintenance and operation of Dedicated Freight Corridors. In the first phase the organisation is constructing the Western DFC (1504 Route km) and Eastern DFC (1856 route km) spanning a total length of 3360 route km.
The EDFC starting from Sanehwal near Ludhiana (Punjab) will pass through the states of Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Jharkhand to terminate at Dankuni in West Bengal. The Western Corridor connecting Dadri in Utttar Pradesh to Jawaharlal Nehru Port (JNPT) in Mumbai will traverse through the states of UP, Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Maharshtra. Phase – I of WDFC & EDFC (excluding the Sonnnagar – Dankuni PPP section) will be completed by 2021.
Timelines:
EDFC
Khurja – Bhaupur Partly trial runs have started on Bhadan – Khurja section. By FY 2019 -20 the total 351 km will be commissioned
Bhaupur – Mughalsarai 402 km Dec-2020
Sonnagar – Mughalsarai 126 km Dec-2020
Khurja – Dadri 46 km Dec-2020
Khurja – Ludhiana 401 km Dec-2021
Entire EDFC (Excluding PPP) 2021