| |
Union railway minister Mamata Banerjee has called for a meeting on February 6 to discuss rail PPPs to be presented in coming budget. The meeting aims on discussing ways to get more private participation in rail projects.
The meeting is an introduction to the framing of a public private partnership (PPP) policy for the railways which will be presented in the coming Budget. According to a source, “The new policy is aimed at attracting private developers, who have not shown much interest in railway projects hitherto.”
The PPP projects by Indian Railways in the Tenth Five-Year Plan (2002-07 comprised of less than 1% of the total plan outlay for the sector. The projections for the Eleventh Plan (2007-12) is around Rs 1,00,000 crore , 20 % of the total outlay.
The PPP basis will be used by railways to develop their huge land base .The companies will use the land through revenue generating schemes. Sources also claim that ministry plans to fence the railway land across the country to prevent encroachment and stoppage of railway traffic in case of protests. The plan is most likely to be implemented on the Delhi-Mumbai route.
