Tamil Nadu ready to sign MoU with Railways: CM

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister O.Panneerselvam Friday expressed the state's willingness to sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Indian Railways for implementing three projects through a special company.

In a letter to union Railway Minister Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu he said three of the trunk infrastructure projects proposed by the state under its Madurai Thoothukudi Industrial Corridor are railway projects.

"Hence, the Government of Tamil Nadu would be willing in principle to enter into an MoU to set up an SPV to promote these three railway projects proposed in the Madurai Thoothukudi Industrial Corridor," Panneerselvam said.

The three projects are the Chennai-Thoothukudi freight corridor, Chennai-Madurai-Kanniyakumari high speed passenger link and Coimbatore-Madurai high speed passenger link.

Panneerselvam also suggested that the land provided by the state government for the railway projects should be treated as part of its equity contribution to the special purpose vehicle (SPV) at market value with matching contribution by the Indian Railways by way of cash or land.

"In the case of equity contributions in cash, there should be assurances that these contributions by both sides would be made in time to ensure that projects do not suffer delays due to lack of adequate funding," Panneerselvam said.

Referring to the ensuing railway budget, Panneerselvam requested the railway minister to ensure adequate funds for the doubling of the Chennai-Kanniyakumari broad gauge line; the Avadi-Guduvancheri and the Avadi/Tiruvallur-Ennore port link projects.

"I expect that the Chennai-Bengaluru freight corridor and the Chennai-Bengaluru high speed passenger link would be high priority projects under the Chennai-Bengaluru Industrial Corridor promoted by the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion, Government of India," Panneerselvam added.

Listing 22 projects announced by the earlier railway ministers he requested Prabhu to allocate sufficient funds in the ensuing budget to complete them.