New Delhi: DFCCIL's Stakeholders Meet for the 374 km Sonnagar (New Chiraila Pauthu) – New Andal section of the Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor saw enthusiastic participation by potential investors Wednesday. The Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor is to be developed on Public-Private Participation (PPP) mode at an estimated cost of Rs 12,000 crores. Over 40 participants from Indian and MNC companies, Financial Institutions, Banks, Consultancy Firms etc., participated in the Stakeholders Meeting held through video conferencing and in-person mode.
They included multilateral financial organisations like Asian Development Bank, IFC, financial organisations like National Investment and Infrastructure Fund: NIIF, Edelweiss Asset Reconstruction Company Limited, Indian companies like Tata Projects, Adani Group, L&T, GMR Group, Kalpataru Power Transmission ltd., Megha Engineering & Infrastructures Ltd, MNCs like Siemens, Hitachi ABB Power Grids, Alstom, Sojitz-India & Sojitz -Japan, Nippon Koei India Pvt. Ltd, KEC International Ltd. and Consultancy Firms like KPMG, Deloitte etc.
DFCCIL's Managing Director (MD) Ravindra Kumar Jain, DFCCIL's (Director OP&BD) Nanduri Srinivas and General Manager (PPP) Pawan Kumar participated in the question and answer session during the course of the session. Jain said that DFC is an iconic infrastructure project which will transform the freight and logistics sector by reducing the logistic carrying cost thereby facilitating economic growth. Srinivas said that the DFC has brought about a paradigm shift in freight transportation with high average speeds in the commissioned sections.
The section, which is estimated at a cost of approximately Rs 12,000 Cr (USD 1.5 billion) is expected to serve major powerhouses, industrial corridors and MMLPs in Haryana, Punjab, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh. Increasing trends in finished steel consumption and production would drive the growth of steel traffic on the route. Further, to attract more traffic and achieve a targeted rail share of freight, DFCCIL plans to develop MMLPs (Multi-Modal Logistics Parks), Sidings and Feeder routes for last-mile connectivity along the section alignment.
The tremendous social benefit will accrue to the population in the catchment area who are engaged in agriculture with a substantial population being small traders, artisans or employed in industrial and commercial establishments. The implementation of the project will lead to the generation of new employment opportunities both during the construction and post-construction phases.
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