Title - Ten global construction companies in race to build first dedicated freight corridor

The 3,300-km Dedicated Freight Corridor has finally attracted global construction majors vying for about Rs 12,000-crore of civil works for two packages on the Eastern Corridor. They include not only Indian majors but also firms from China, Russia and Spain.

China Railway First Group, a state owned China Railway Engineering Corporation, in consortium with Soma, Tata-Aldesa, IVRCL-KMB, Essar-Patel-BSCPL are among 10 who have put in bids for building Khurja-Bhaupur (343 km) and Rewari-Palanpur (640 km). 13 companies were technically-qualified for Khurja-Kanpur section, but 10 companies submitted their financial bids for this section with Lanco Infratech and Hindustan Construction skip the race.

Two Japanese consortiums, Sojitz Corporation-L&T and Mitsui-IRCON Leighton consortium are expected to submit financial bids on 21 January 2013 for the Rewari-Palanpur section of Western corridor.

The contractor for the World Bank-funded eastern corridor is likely to be announced by the month-end, the official added. The bids are being evaluated by the company and the World Bank.

In the Eastern Corridor, the acquisition is around 2,000 hectare; about 3,200 hectare is needed in the Western Corridor. Eighty per cent of the entire alignment of the Eastern Corridor is parallel to the existing railway track. However, the alignment takes a detour to skirt busy towns/cities and other inhabited areas, wildlife sanctuaries and forest areas. The major detour alignment on the Eastern Corridor is at the Gurpa Gujandi Ghat Section, Gaya, Allahabad, Kanpur, Aligarh, Meerut and Tundla.

Land acquisition for the two stretches on the eastern stretches is almost completed. The 343-km project was sliced into three subsets, and the bidders had been qualified to bid for one, two or all three. In the bids, the consortia have offered various levels of discounts depending on the size of projects they get.”

The World Bank had approved loan of US$975 million in October, 2011 for the first phase of Eastern Corridor (Khurja-Bhaupur). With the DFCC’s compliance to various triggers, World Bank is also expected to sanction US$1.05 billion loan for Kanpur-Ludhiana section. World Bank has agreed in principle to part finance the Eastern Corridor project from Mughalsarai to Ludhiana, which has been divided into three phases. The total in principle loan commitment is $2.725 billion.

The upgraded design features of the DFC are meant to sustain 1.5 km of train length and a 100 kmph speed with a load of 15,000 tonnes. As against the norm of a 22.5-tonne axle load on the existing network, that on DFCC will be 32.5 or 25 tonnes, comparable to the standard in America, Russia and China.

On Western Corridor, DFCC has also committed funding from JICA from Rewari to Palanpur and JNPT to Vadodara. The proposed funding is under Special Terms of Economic Participation (STEP) between the two countries. The value of the proposed loan is JPY 295 billion, which is a soft loan with the repayment period of 40 years.
Tags: Infra Construction Projects in New Delhi, Construction Projects, construction companies, indian railways, railway network, railway project, Dedicated Freight Corridor, China Railway First Group, Soma, Tata Aldesa, IVRCL KMB, Essar Patel BSCPL Khurja Bhaupur, Rewari Palanpur, Lanco Infratech, Hindustan Construction, Sojitz Corporation L&T, Mitsui IRCON Leighton, Rewari-Palanpur