(LiveMint)
Union transport minister Nitin Gadkari has come to the rescue of a ₹8,500 crore project to build a railway corridor between Indore and Manmad, Maharashtra. The 362-km railway corridor will be executed by a special purpose vehicle (SPV) with the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) and Indian Port Rail Corp Ltd (IPRCL) contributing 70% of the project costs. JNPT and IPRCL are both under Gadkari’s shipping ministry.
JNPT will hold 55% in the SPV, while IPRCL and the state governments of Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh will provide equity share of 15% each, according to the memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed between them. However, financial contribution of railways in this corridor will be nil. IPRCL will be the executing agency. The project, approved in budget 2016-17, has been a non-starter because of paucity of funds with the Indian Railways and the state governments of Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh.
About half of the Indore-Manmad railway corridor alignment passes through Maharashtra (Malegaon, New Dhule, Nardana, Shirpur) and half of it through Madhya Pradesh (Malwan, Chitawal, Lodhipura, Yashwant Nagar).
