Feasibility report on DFC within two months: Japanese PM

New Delhi, Aug 22 (UNI) Terming Indian Railways' Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC) as ''a project of tremendous significance'', Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe today said the final report of the feasibility study of the project would be drawn up in two months.

''This is a project of tremendous significance, and Japan is actively considering ways and means for financial assistance,'' Mr Abe said, addressing a joint sitting of Indian Parliament.

Mr Abe, the influential leader of Asia's economic powerhouse who is in India leading a 200-member business delegation, said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had demonstrated ''great enthusiasm'' in executing plans to connect Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata with a freight corridor totalling 2,800 km in length, with average speed of goods trains pegged at 100 km per hour.

In this connection, he referred to the wide-ranging discussions between Japan and India on the proposed Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor, for which the DFC would serve as its backbone.

''I would like my government to closely cooperate with the Indian side, particularly towards the establishment of a dedicated fund that should help bring about the Industrial Corridor,'' said Mr Abe, who became the third Japanese Prime Minister to address the Parliament, Meanwhile, sources said The Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JBIC), which has agreed to provide about Rs 18,000 crore for the construction cost of the proposed freight corridor, had raised questions about the technology to be used and the cost of the project in its interim report submitted to the Railway Ministry.

The DFC project aims to link Delhi with Mumbai and Kolkata with high speed connectivity for exclusive freight movement. The project consists of 1,483-km Delhi-Mumbai route, also known as western corridor and 1,280-km Delhi-Kolkata route, known as eastern corridor.

The construction of the western and eastern corridors is estimated to cost around Rs 30,000 crore.

According to the interim report, JBIC favours use of environment-friendly electric locomotives, Indian Railways is keen to run double stacked containers in Delhi-Mumbai corridor by diesel locomotive.

''The ministry is examining the interim report,'' a ministry official said, adding that the final report would be submitted by Octoberend.

The eastern corridor is to connect Ludhiana with Sonanagar (Bihar) via Ambala, Saharanpur, Khurja and Allahabad in the first phase and later extended to Kolkata.

The western corridor, which will start from Tughlakabad (Delhi), is to connect Rewari, Jaipur, Palanpur, Ahmedabad, Vadodara and finally Jawarharlal Nehru Port in Mumbai.

The Railways has set a target of 785 million tonnes of freight traffic during the current fiscal and expects to carry over 1,100 million tonnes of freight traffic by the end of the Eleventh Plan.

UNI