Chhattisgarh govt to form joint venture company with Railways

Chhattisgarh government will form a joint venture company with the Ministry of Railways for the expansion of railway tracks in the state.

"The decision to form a joint venture company with Ministry of Railways was taken during a meeting of the state cabinet chaired by Chief Minister Raman Singh here last evening," a government spokesperson said today.

An MoU will be signed between the state Commerce and Industries Department and the Railway Ministry in this regard, he said.

Under the MoU, the state government will have 51% share and the Railways remaining 49% share, he added.

"The proposed joint venture company will identify viable rail projects in the state and implement them. Presently, Chhattisgarh has 1,187-km long railway line network, which is less than half of the national average of rail density," the spokesperson said.

The construction of new 546-km long rail network including 95 kms long Dalli Rajhara-Rowghat rail project, 311-km long East and East-West Rail Corridors and 140-km long Rowghat-Jagdalpur rail project are underway in the state, he added.

Apart from this, the state cabinet also decided to upgrade public amenities at the upcoming capital Naya Raipur in a bid to attract settlement there.

"It was decided that for the development of quality public amenities and for enhancing employment-oriented activities, land will be allocated at discounted rates to attract private investment at Naya Raipur," the official said adding a scheme has been developed in this direction.

Under the scheme, multi-super-speciality hospitals, international schools, environment-friendly industries, amusement parks, golf course, warehousing, film-city etc have been included, he added.

Several other efforts have also been made by the Naya Raipur Development Authority for encouraging habitation in the area, the spokesperson added.