Lok Sabha Question No. 60 (STARRED), answered on 2021-12-01
Subject: Dedicated Freight Corridor Projects
Ministry: RAILWAYS
Asked by: Shrikant Eknath Shinde, Heena Vijaykumar Gavit

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

## LOK SABHA

## STARRED QUESTION NO. 60

## TO BE ANSWERED ON 01.12.2021

## DEDICATED FREIGHT CORRIDOR PROJECTS

- *60.  DR.  SHRIKANT EKNATH SHINDE: DR.  HEENA GAVIT:

Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state:

- (a) the details of the Dedicated Freight Corridor Projects (DFC);
- (b) the details of funds allocated, sanctioned and disbursed in the past  five  years  and  the  current  year  for  the  purpose,  State/Union Territory-wise;
- (c) whether  cost  has  increased  due  to  the  slow  pace  of  work related to these projects and if so, the details thereof;
- (d) the  details  of  the  acquisition  of  land  between  such  corridors along  with  the  details  of  land  acquired  and  compensation  and rehabilitation processes undertaken; and
- (e) the other steps being taken by the Government in this regard?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF RAILWAYS, COMMUNICATIONS AND

ELECTRONICS & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI ASHWINI VAISHNAW)

(a) to (e): A Statement is laid on the Table of the House.

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STATEMENT  REFERRED  TO  IN  REPLY  TO  PARTS  (a)  TO  (e)  OF STARRED QUESTION NO. 60 BY DR. SHRIKANT EKNATH SHINDE AND DR. HEENA GAVIT TO BE ANSWERED IN LOK SABHA ON 01.12.2021 REGARDING DEDICATED FREIGHT CORRIDOR PROJECTS.

(a)  and  (b):  Presently,  Ministry  of  Railways  is  implementing  two Dedicated Freight Corridors namely, Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor from Ludhiana to Sonnagar (1337 Km) and Western Dedicated Freight Corridor from Dadri to Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (1506  km.).  Sonnagar-Dankuni  (538  km)  is  being  planned  on  PPP mode. Currently, 1110 km out of 2843 km of DFC has been completed. Government  of  India  had  approved  the  initial  estimated  cost  of ₹ 28,181 Crore for this project in February, 2008. Subsequently, the cost estimate was revised to ₹ 81, 459 Crore in June, 2015 which has been  approved  by  the  Government.  This  revision  was  necessitated primarily  due  to  increase  in  land  cost,  escalation  of  costs  during construction, increase in scope and specification and soft costs such as Interest during Construction and taxes. The progress of implementation of DFC project before 2014 was very slow due to land acquisition related delays. The pace of work has improved tremendously after 2014. As against the total capex of ₹ 6,120 Crore between  2009-2014,  capex  was  worth ₹ 56,619  Crore  during  20142021.

Details  of  year-wise  funds  allocation,  funds  received  and  funds disbursed by DFCCIL, during the last five years are as under:

( ` . Crore)

| Year    |   Funds Allocation |   Funds Received |   Funds Disbursed |
|---------|--------------------|------------------|-------------------|
| 2016-17 |              11201 |            10859 |              9915 |
| 2017-18 |              13760 |             3389 |              6703 |
| 2018-19 |               8740 |             8707 |             10534 |
| 2019-20 |              12278 |            11245 |             12658 |
| 2020-21 |              11760 |            14233 |             13366 |

(c): The progress of project suffered serious setbacks due to several factors including huge delays in land acquisition, delays in environment/forest clearances from State Governments, court cases, law and order problems and adverse impact of covid-19 pandemic/lock  downs  and  contract  related  issues.  These  delays alongwith  price  escalation  of  land  and  increase  in  scope  have resulted in overall cost escalation.

(d): The details of Land Acquisition for DFC project are as under:

| Section                       | Total Length (Kms)   | Total scope (Ha)   | Acquired land (Ha)   | Award Disbursed ( ` . crore)   |
|-------------------------------|----------------------|--------------------|----------------------|--------------------------------|
| Eastern DFC                   | 1875                 | 5827               | 5696                 | 7826                           |
| (including Sonnagar- Dankuni) |                      |                    |                      |                                |
| Western DFC                   | 1506                 | 6000               | 6000                 | 6206                           |
| Total                         | 3381                 | 11827              | 11696                | 14032                          |

Rehabilitation and Resettlement benefits have been extended in case of eligible Project Affected Persons (PAPs) in terms of the entitlement matrix  under  the  provisions  of  Right  to  Fair  Compensation  and Transparency  in  Land  Acquisition,  Rehabilitation  and  Resettlement Act, 2013 (RFCTLARR-Act 2013).

(e):  Several  proactive  measures  have  been  taken  to  fast  track  the project  in  last  07  years  such  as  increase  in  fund  allocation,  closer monitoring, resolution of contractual issues, resolving land acquisition issues and State Government related issues etc., besides other measures to improve the cash flows/liquidity.

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