Dedicated Freight Corridor Corp likely to miss Dec deadline

The Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India Ltd (DFCCIL), a special purpose vehicle under the ministry of railways to implement the Rs 50,000 crore project, is all set to miss the target of land acquisition of 5,759 hectares by December this year.

The corporation has managed to acquire merely 555 hectares of land for the project in four years.

The total land required for both 1,515 km western corridor and 1,839 km eastern corridor is 11,179 hectares. According to a railway ministry’s internal report on the progress of the project, only 555 hectares of land has been acquired by the DFCCIL till July this year and a compensation of `215 crore has been awarded to the owners. Of the total land acquired, 400 hectares fall in on the western corridor and 155 hectares on the eastern corridor.

Additionally, Form 20A has been issued for 8,622 hectares of land. The issuance of 20A means marking of the land identified for acquisition, which is ready for further survey and compensation studies. Also, form 20E has been issued for 6,182 hectares of land, subsequent to which notification for their acquisition will be announced.

Going by the pace at which the land is being acquired, it is highly unlikely that 5,759 hectares will be acquired in the next four months. Experts feel the delay will lead to cost escalation in the project.

“The project is delayed significantly. Although the ministry may have factored in the cost escalation on various fronts, the overall cost will definitely go up as land acquisition prices as time passes by,” said Vishwas Udgirkar, partner, (infrastructure), PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Udgirkar, however, said most of the times expansion happens on the existing alignments, but this being greenfield alignment it is going to be a mega challenge for the railways ministry.

The dedicated freight corridors envisage speed of 100 kmph for freight trains, compared with average speed of 20-30 km now.