Reviewing the progress of the Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India Ltd (DFCCIL), Railway Minister Piyush Goyal on Monday directed completion of Dedicated Freight Corridors (DFCs) in mission mode to compensate for the loss of time due to COVID-19 pandemic.
During a virtual meeting, the minister and senior officials of DFFCIL were evaluating the current status of the project and the impediments to its progress.
The minister asked the officials to identify the most challenging area and come up with solution to speed up work. He also advised that involving young fresh minds to suggest best solutions be encouraged.
During the meeting, it was decided that strict monitoring of work of all contractors will be done and resolution of all issues including coordination with the States should be achieved on a mission mode. Innovative mechanisms to constantly monitor the weekly progress of the project will also be evolved.
Indian Railways’ DFCs is one of the largest rail infrastructure projects. The overall cost is pegged at Rs 81,459 crores. DFCCIL has been set up as a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) to undertake planning, development, mobilisation of financial resources, construction, maintenance and operation of DFCs. In the first phase the organisation is constructing the Western DFC (1504 route kms) and Eastern DFC (1856 route kms) spanning a total length of 3360 route kms.
The Western DFC connecting Dadri in Utttar Pradesh to Jawaharlal Nehru Port (JNPT) in Mumbai, and Eastern DFC starting from Sahnewal near Ludhiana in Punjab to Dankuni in West Bengal (excluding the Sonnnagar – Dankuni PPP section) is expected to be completed by December, 2021.
