After Odisha, Maharashtra to sign MoU with Railways.

Maharashtra Chief Minister has assured Rs. 10,000 crore worth of funds for undertaking rail-based projects in Maharashtra through joint venture model with Indian Railways, said Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu while talking to reporters. An MoU with Odisha Government was inked recently.

Prabhu added that with various steps taken by the railways such as solarisation, procuring power as a deemed licensee, and agreement with independent power producers, Railways will lower the cost of fuel by Rs. 5,000 crore in the next three years. Fuel cost is the second largest cost for railways, after staff cost.

At present, about Rs. 22,000 crore is spent on diesel and Rs. 13,000 crore is spent on electricity every year.

On the high speed corridor between Ahmedabad and Mumbai with support from JICA, Prabhu said that the proposal will be considered by Ministry of Finance, External Affairs and NITI Aayog.

Earlier in the day, an Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between Ministry of Railways and Government of Odisha to form an SPV for implementation of railway projects in Odisha.

The MoU will work towards formation of Joint Venture company for development of railway infrastructure in Odisha.

The agreement was signed in presence of the Union Minister of Railways Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu, Union Minister of Tribal Affairs Jual Oram, Union Minister of State for Railways Manoj Sinha and Minister of State (Independent Charge) Department of Commerce & Transport Government of Odisha Ramesh Chandra Majhi. Chairman, Railway Board A.K. Mital, Board Members and senior officials of Railway Board and Government of Odisha were also present on the occasion.

In view of the growing demands for railway lines in various States and huge requirement of funds to execute them, Prabhu had announced in his budget speech about setting up of Joint Ventures with states for focused project development, resource mobilization, land acquisition, project implementation and monitoring of critical rail projects.


HBL