Govt to spend Rs10,000 cr in four years to fast-track 30 rail projects

The railways ministry is likely to spend Rs.10,000 crore in four years to complete 30 high-priority projects. “Railway minister (D.V. Sadananda Gowda) is keen to complete pending railway projects first before allocating railways’ limited resources to new projects,” said Anil Saxena, additional director general and spokesperson, ministry of railways. While presenting the rail budget on 8 July, Gowda had said that adding new projects leads to spreading of resources too thinly and delays in completing projects. “In the last 30 years, as many as 676 projects were sanctioned worth Rs.1,57,883 crore. Of these, only 317 projects could be completed and 359 projects remain to be completed, which will now require as much as Rs.1,82,000 crore,” he had said. The total project cost of these 30 projects is estimated to be nearly Rs.20,000 crore. Nearly half the amount has been spent on the projects and the remaining will be provided over the next four years. As much as Rs.2,259 crore has been set aside for these projects in the current fiscal year that began in April. The bigger projects in the list include Lumding-Silchar gauge conversion worth Rs.5,185 crore, doubling of Daund-Gulbarga line worth Rs.1,514 crore, doubling of Udhna-Jalgaon line worth Rs.1,390 crore and doubling of Utretia-Zafrabad line worth Rs.1,117 crore. More than half the projects are for doubling the lines in order to enhance capacity and generate returns. Others include new lines, electrification and gauge conversion. “All these projects have a high rate of return and are at several stages of construction. The rate of return on most projects is expected to be 14% and above,” Saxena said. All clearances are in place for these projects, he added. The oldest project in the list dates back to 1995. “It’s a good move. At least the prioritized projects will get completed and benefits from these will start flowing. Since most of the projects are for doubling lines, if these are being done on high traffic sections they will be remunerative for the railways and will improve its earnings,” said Samar Jha, a former financial commissioner at the Railway Board. The ministry reported an operating ratio of 93.5% for the year ended 31 March, which implies that Indian Railways spent nearly 94 paise out of every rupee earned.