The railways could take the external commercial borrowing (ECB) route to raise Rs 2,51,000 crore during the 11th Plan (2007-2012) after it receives the Planning Commission’s approval.
It will use the amount for the Rs 28,000-crore dedicated freight corridor (DFC) project, rail gauge conversion and revamp of railway infrastructure.
VN Mathur, member (traffic), railway board, said, ?We have submitted the draft to the Planning Commission for the Rs 2,51,000-crore investment road map.?
He was talking to reporters on the sidelines of a seminar on logistics.
He said that while Rs 90,000 crore will come from internal generation, market borrowing will be around Rs 75,000 crore. It has asked the Centre to help it with the remaining.
The railways have already held a series of talks with Japanese agencies to part?finance the projects. Japan International Co-operation Agency is carrying out a feasibility study for the DFC project.