Railway to partner with states to form companies for rail projects

In an attempt to enhance railway services across the country, Union Railway minister Suresh Prabhu today said the ministry would be approaching all the state governments to join hands with the railways and jointly float companies to execute projects in their respective states.

According to him, railways has signed initial agreements with 20 states to jointly develop a company aimed at boosting railway infrastructure.

 

“We are approaching all states to come forward and join hands for faster implementation of the projects,” Union Railway minister Suresh Prabhu said here. “For any infrastructure projects you need land. State’s participation in projects will ensure faster implementation of the project,” he added.

“We have signed MoUs with 20 states. Under the agreement, there will be a company jointly owned by the centre and the states. It will develop infrastructure and look into issues which the states think are important,” he noted.

Prabhu has been stressing on floating of special purpose vehicle (SPV) with states to execute railway projects for quite sometime. Recently, Maharashtra government has sent a proposal to the Union railway ministry for setting up a special purpose vehicle (SPV) to execute these lines.

Apart from easier solution of land related problems, Railways is of the view, the partnership with states will make available institutional finance for infrastructure addition without burdening the Centre or the state. It should be noted that a lot of railway projects in West Bengal, especially the Joka-BBD bag and Howrah-Salt Lake metro projects in Kolkata has got struck for several years due to several years. Responding to a question on the same, “I have already spoken to the chief minister (Mamata Banerjee), who is in Bangladesh. We will soon meet and discuss all the issues,” Prabhu said.