World Bank, JICA, SBI Capital & HDFC Bank show interest in dedicated freight corridor project on PPP

NEW DELHI: Around 42 entities including multilateral financial institutions, commercial banks and major infrastructure players have shown interest in the Sonnagar–Gomoh section of the Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor which will be developed on Public Private Participation (PPP) mode at an estimated cost of Rs 9,000 crore.
The DFCCIL, the SPV executing the two dedicated freight corridors (DFCs), said on Tuesday that a meeting was held with the stakeholders on Tuesday for developing this 262 km stretch on the PPP mode. It said there were about 100 participants from 42 entities.
They included World Bank, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF), Edelweiss Asset Reconstruction Company, SBI Capital, HDFC Bank, India Exim Bank and KPMG. Companies such as L&T, GMR, GR Infraprojects, Tata Projects, IRCON, Adani Group, Siemens, Sojitz, RZD International LLC are also interested in the project.
The section is expected to serve major power houses, industrial corridors and multi-modal logistics parks in Haryana, Punjab, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh. Increasing trends in finished steel consumption and production would drive growth of steel traffic on the route, the DFCCIL said.
It is also planning to develop multi-modal logistics parks, sidings and feeder routes for last mile connectivity along the section alignment to attract more traffic and achieve targeted rail share of freight.
As a part of EDFC, the Sonnagar-Dankuni section of 536 km has been approved by the railway ministry for development through PPP. The ministry has directed the DFCCIL to take up this project in two phases – Sonnagar to Gomoh (262 km) Gomoh to Dankuni (274 km).