GoM on Railways' dedicated freight corridor holds first meeting

New Delhi, Aug 4 (UNI) The Group of Ministers on the Railways' Rs 22,000-crore dedicated freight corridor project, constituted to consider the proposal of creating a Special Purpose Vehicle for its implementation, today held its first meeting with Railway Minister Lalu Prasad asserting that the SPV would be fully owned by his ministry.

''The SPV will be fully owned by the Railway Ministry but private players and international investors would be invited for funding the ambitious project,'' Mr Prasad told reporters after the meeting of the GOM at Rail Bhavan, comprising the Ministers of Railway and Finance, besides the Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission.

Conceding that the thin profit of margin would be a constraint for private investors, the minister said JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency) had shown interest in funding the project, and it would be welcome.

''We are going to invite private investors but there is no question of privatisation of the Railways,'' he said.

He said all possible funding options, including debt, bilateral/multilateral funding, budgetary support, Railways's internal revenues and public private partnerships, would be explored. About today's deliberations, attended by Finance Minister P Chidambaram and Planning Commission Deputy Chairman M S Ahluwalia, the Railway Minister said the Union Cabinet had already cleared the proposal.

''At the meeting, the investment pattern, measures to expedite the formation of the SPV and some other issues were raised,'' he said, adding, ''We will submit our reply on Wednesday at the next meeting of the GoM.'' Mr Prasad said the 'big ticket' dedicated freight corridors project between Delhi and Mumbai and Delhi and Kolkata would considerably bolster the revenues of the Railways by putting the goods trains, which currently ply on loop lines, on special tracks.

The minister had earlier said that the interim report on the project would be ready before the year-end. ''We are keen that the founadtion stone of the project is laid by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at the earliest.'' During a meeting with Japanese Land, Infrastructure and Transport Minister Kazuo Kitagawa here last week, the Railway Minister requested him to ensure completion of the JICA feasibility study ''at an early date and preferably before the Prime Minister's visit to Japan slated for the year-end.'' A team of consultants from JICA, comprising project management group, intermodal research group and engineering group, arrived in India last month for carrying out the feasibility study on the freight corridors. A team of officials from the Railway Ministry has been set up to coordinate with the study team.

Mr Kitagawa agreed to the suggestion and said that ''though the study is to be completed in October next year'', he would try to get an interim report before the Indian Prime Minister's visit to Japan.

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