Freight corridor gets Japanese boost with L&T-Sojitz contract

The Railways is all set for a long- term engagement with Japan with the Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India Limited granting a Rs 6,700-crore contract for construction of 640-km twin-track line between Rewari and Palanpur of Western Dedicated Freight Corridor.
L&T-Sojitz, a joint venture comprising L&T of India and Sojitz Corporation of Japan, has won the contract, one of the country's biggest, through an international bidding process.
The contract is likely to be completed in four years, a release said.
The project is funded by Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), the Japanese government arm for providing technical and financial aid to developing countries, which is also DMRC's lending agency.

Earlier in January, Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India Limited (DFCCIL) had also awarded the Rs 3,300 crore contract for 343-km-long Khurja-Kanpur section of Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor, funded by the World Bank.
The length covered under the new contract is more than 40 per cent of the entire western corridor. Land for almost the entire stretch has already been acquired. Permissions for cutting the trees coming in the way has been obtained already. All the other statutory clearances have also been obtained.
The Western Dedicated Freight Corridor, which will cover a length of about 1,500 km from Dadri to Jawaharlal Nehru Port (Mumbai), is being funded by JICA who have pledged a Special Terms for Economic Partnership loan of 677 billion Yen for the entire Western Dedicated Freight Corridor. As per the loan conditionalities, the lead partner for any contract has to be from Japan.