The dedicated freight corridor (DFC) project is likely to get a massive push in the upcoming Rail Budget. If all goes well, railway minister Lalu Prasad is expected to announce the commencement of the construction of the eastern corridor in the Budget.
Since the railways will be funding the 1,309-km long eastern corridor from Delhi to Sealdah in West Bengal on its own, the ministry wants to waste no further time and begin the actual construction work as soon as possible. The Japanese Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) has recently informed the ministry that it is interested in funding only the western arm of the DFC.
The ministry, which now plans to construct the eastern corridor using a part of its internally generated funds and commercial borrowings, sees no reason to delay constructing the corridor any further. The work on the western corridor, however, will begin only after the loan from JBIC gets finalised sometime later this year.
Commenting on the move, a Rail Bhawan official said, ?By announcing the construction in Budget 2008-09 we plan to show our commitment to the project.?
However to jumpstart the work on the eastern corridor, the ministry is also planning to get final approval from the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) for the DFC by next week. ?We already have an in-principal approval for the project, but need final clearance before going ahead with it,? the official added.
The ministry has calculated the cost of the western and eastern corridor based on three different scenarios. While the cost of the eastern corridor has been begged at about Rs 19,000 crore (including Rs 6,000 crore for extension to Dankuni), going by Japanese estimates, the cost of the western corridor has been kept at about Rs 25,000 crore (including electric traction, cost of consultants and locomotives).