Title - Contract for double track between Rewari and Palanpur granted

ALLAHABAD: The Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India Limited (DFCCIL) has granted another major contract worth about Rs 6,700 crore for the construction of 640 kms double track line between Rewari and Palanpur of Western Dedicated Freight Corridor.

L&T- Sojitz Corporation, JV comprising of L&T of India and Sojitz Corporation of Japan, has won the contract through an international competitive bidding process. The contract is unique in many ways as it is a JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency ) funded Design Build lump sum contract that requires execution of the work within a specific time frame. Framed with the active support of the Planning Commission, the Ministry of Railways and the JICA, the bid document has been designed keeping in mind the cabinet mandate for execution of the works through lump sum contracting.

The contract is likely to be completed in four years. It may be recalled that DFCCIL had also awarded a major contract for 343 km Khurja-Kanpur section of Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor for about Rs 3,300 crore in January 2013.

The length covered under this contract is more than 40% of the entire western corridor. Land for almost the entire stretch has already been acquired for the work. Permissions for felling trees, along with all the other statutory clearances for the project, have been obtained already.

It may be recalled that managing director, DFCCIL RK Gupta had conducted inspection of the section on April 9 along with the senior project officials of DFCCIL and North Western Railway to take stock of the work and had given necessary directions to the officials. He also directed the officials to seek assistance of the state government officials and local authorities for obtaining all the clearance needed for the project.

The Western Dedicated Freight Corridor, covering a length of about 1,500 km from Dadri to Jawahar Lal Nehru Port (Mumbai) is funded by the JICA who have pledged a STEP (Special Terms for Economic Partnership) loan of 677 billion Yen for the entire Western Dedicated Freight Corridor. As per the loan conditions, the lead partner for any contract has to be from Japan.

DFCCIL, a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV), is engaged in planning, construction, operation and maintenance of the dedicated freight corridors and in the first phase, the two corridors, namely, Eastern Corridor from Ludhiana to Dankuni (1,839 kms) and the Western Corridor from Dadri to Jawaharlal Nehru Port (JNPT) (1,500 kms) are being constructed. The entire Western Corridor is being funded by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), while the Eastern Corridor from Mughalsarai to Ludhiana is being funded by the World Bank.