Railways to invest Rs.2.51 trillion in infrastructure

By IANS

Kolkata : Indian Railways is planning to invest Rs.2.51 trillion in the 11th Five Year plan for developing infrastructure to strengthen its domestic supply chain.


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"The railways will chip in with this amount for five years down the line, of which Rs.900 billion will come from internal generation. At least 29 percent of the total amount will be from market borrowing and the rest will come from the government," V.N. Mathur, member, traffic, Railway Board, told reporters Tuesday.

He was speaking at a seminar on "Logistic Colloquium" organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) here.

He said the draft of the investment proposal had already been submitted to the Planning Commission. The Indian Railways is looking into several development aspects like electrification and gauge conversion.

"We are looking at Public Private Partnership (PPP) models in some areas and are also keen to explore opportunities with multilateral funding agencies," Mathur said on the sidelines of the seminar.

Speaking on the Delhi-Mumbai industrial corridor, he said the Japan International Corporation Agency (Jaica) was involved in a survey on the project. The survey will be ready by October.

Mathur said that Rs.280 billion would be invested in the Delhi-Mumbai freight corridor. He also said there was plenty of opportunity in the field of logistical development as the total import in India since 1995 increased by 19 percent and exports increased by almost 17 percent.

"The railways will also develop about 20 warehouses in different parts of the country through the Railway Warehouses Corporation. Earlier all the warehouses were developed but they were lying neglected," he said, adding the railways will also develop logistic parks along the Delhi-Mumbai freight corridor to enhance the domestic supply chain in India.

Indian Railways is also looking at multilateral funding agencies like Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) to participate in some of its logistics development ventures, Mathur said.

 

 

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