JSW to develop 34-km rail link to connect its Jaigarh port

The JSW Group today signed a 30-year concession agreement with the Konkan Railway to build a 34-km, Rs 771-crore rail link to connect its Jaigarh port on the Konkan coast.
The group said it's looking at Rs 500 crore income from its ports operations this fiscal and 200 million tonnes of cargo capacity by 2020.
"We expect to clock Rs 500 crore in operational revenue this fiscal, up from Rs 350 crore last fiscal from our three ports. Also, we have an ambitious plan to have 200 million tonnes of cargo capacity at ports by 2020," JSW Group chairman and managing director Sajjan Jindal said here.

To achieve the ambitious cargo capacity, Jindal said the company is open to acquisitions and is keenly looking at the east coast for the same since it has good presence on the west coast.
The rail link will connect JSW Jaigarh port with the upcoming Digni station through a greenfield 33.7-km railway corridor. Of the total length, as much as 18 km will have tunnels, Jindal said, adding that the railhead is expected to carry 12 mt of cargo per annum on completing 30 months from now.
The PPP project will be implemented by JSW Infrastructure, an arm of the JSW Group, which will hold 63 per cent, Konkan Railway 26 per cent and the Maharashtra Maritime Board the remaining 11 percent, said JSW Infrastructure joint MD and chief executive BVJK Sharma.

The agreement was signed in the presence of the Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu and Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.

Prabhu said this is the first PPP project since the railway budget was presented in February and expressed hope that more states would come forward with such projects to develop rail infrastructure.
JSW won the contract following a competitive bidding and the agreement is to build, operate and maintain the railhead for 30 years.
Out of the estimated Rs 771 crore investment, Rs 191 crore will be equity and the rest will be debt, Sharma said. With a 20-metre natural draft, Jindal said the Jaigarh port has the deepest draft in the country and therefore, has tremendous potential as it's an all-weather deepwater port.

Plus, booming industrial activities in western Maharashtra will feed to the profitability of both the port as well as the upcoming railhead.