SPV formation cleared for Chhattisgarh's rail corridor
The ambitious rail corridor project in Chhattisgarh has moved on to the final track of implementation with the deck clearing for the formation special purpose vehicle (SPV).
The Rs 4500-crore project would have two rail corridors—one would be 180-km East corridor and another 122-km East-West corridor. It would connect state’s mineral rich pockets with the main rail route and facilitate train accessibility in the areas otherwise tucked away in desolate locations.
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At a high level meeting held Saturday night, state government finally cleared the deck for the forming SPV that would have equities of Chhattisgarh government, Indian Railway and state-run South Eastern Coalfields Limited (SECL). The corporate had been kept out of the SPV and share in the project.
When the proposal was mooted in February this year, the industrial houses having mining facilities in the pockets falling under the corridors were asked for a stake in the project. Now, the state government had decided to drop the industrial houses and implement it with the government-owned SPV.
“The corporate would now use the rail corridors and pay according to the usage,” state’s energy secretary Aman Singh told Business Standard. Since there was confusion among the corporate over equity and share in the project, it was delaying the work unnecessarily while the project initially took off in a record time.
The rail corridor project was announced in February 8, 2012 and the next day the working committee was formed. Within a week, the working committee presented the detailed project report. In March, the budget was allocated for the project.
Singh said the work on the rail corridor project would start soon as the track had been cleared for the same. “The 69-km first phase of the project connecting Devpur and Gharghoda would get off as all required clearances for laying rail line had been taken from the authorities concerned,” he said, adding that the rail corridor project with state would be a model project in the country.
SECL, country’s largest coal producing company and highest profit making entity of the Coal India Limited (CIL), would be the biggest equity holder in the project. The company has major mining operations in both the corridors pockets.
“The state government will have 10 per cent equity that will be basically on land,” Singh said. The Indian railway will share 26 per cent while SECL will have remaining 64 per cent equity in the project.
SPV formation cleared for Chhattisgarh's rail corridor