The proposed R8-lakh-crore investment for the Railways should be made in five years, in conjuction with the 12th Five Year Plan, a committee headed by Sam Pitroda on modernisation of the national transporter has noted.
The panel is to submit its report to railway minister Dinesh Trivedi before the Railway Budget 2012-13, due on March 14.
Sources said the budget will reflect the proposals of the Pitroda committee.
Of the proposed investment, R6 lakh is to be generated through internal accruals, budgetary support and borrowings, while R2 lakh crore through public private partnership (PPP) route.
The investments will be in all areas of development ? High-speed train corridor, stations revamp, rolling stock acquisition and setting up of power plants. The idea is to give a facelift to the Railways, which currently runs mostly diesel trains at slow speeds and has stations that are glaring examples of infrastructure deficit.
Although the recommendations look similar to what the Railways has been suggesting since last many years without any noteworthy success, they hold significance in the present time as the pressure to increase capacity is increasing on the transporter.
Senior officials in railway ministry told FE that the Planning Commission wants the suggested investment to occur in the next five-year plan, which starts from April 2012. Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia who met Trivedi earlier this week stressed on implementing the proposals during the 12th Plan.
The Railways is already working on Vision 2020 that encompasses investment of R14 lakh crore by 2020 to expand its network, holding PPP as a key feature of the outlay plan. However, ground reality is that no PPP project has so far been awarded as the Railways and private entities are not in tune over key provisions of the proposed partnership.
Miffed on the undue delay in awarding the projects, Trivedi has favoured setting up of an ombudsman for the PPP model of development. ?The minister is of the view that the ombudsman can balance the bidding documents considering diverse interests of railways and private sector in the discussions that are going on since 2011,? a senior official of railway ministry said.
The Pitroda committee was set up last September. HDFC chairman Deepak Parekh, IDFC managing director Rajiv Lal, Feedback Infrastructure Services chairman Vinayak Chatterjee are among the members of the panel.