Title - Chhattisgarh govt,Railways, SECL to build rail corridor

The construction of rail corridor in Chhattisgarh would be done through the government's special purpose vehicle (SPV), official sources said here today.The SPV, which would be wholly government-owned, would construct the 180 km eastern corridor and 122 km east-west corridor in the state under the Rail Corridor project.The Railway Board and South Eastern Coalfields Limited (SECL) would be the stake-holders in the SPV, along with the Chhattisgarh government. The decision to this effect was taken at a high-level meeting chaired by Chief Minister Raman Singh recently, sources said. Railway Board Chairman Vinay Mittal, other senior railways, SECL and state government officials discussed the project in detail with the chief minister, sources said.The railways would hold a 26 percent stake while Chhattisgarh government's share would be around 8-10 percent in the project. The rest would be borne by the SECL.Aimed at providing better facilities to the common man, the passenger trains would be given preference under the project, sources mentioned.The eastern corridor is proposed along the Bhupdevpur-Gharghoda-Dharamjaigarh-Korba and Gharghoda-Dongamauha routes, with an approximate length of 180 kms and would cost around Rs 2,000 crore.A preliminary inspection of 63 kms on this corridor has already been done.

The east-west corridor would be constructed on the Gevra road-Deepika-Katghora-Sindurgarh-Pasan-Pendraroad section, on an estimated 122 kms stretch at a cost of around Rs 863 crore.

The inspection of the total 122 kms route has been done for the purpose.

With the construction of the rail corridor, the people would have the facility of direct or a nearby railway station and would boost the development process of backward areas, sources added.