Government is committed to Restructure / Speed-up Reforms in Railways - Shri Manoj Sinha, Minister of State for Railways
Inaugurating the CII India Rail Summit today, Shri Manoj Sinha, Hon’ble Minister of State for Railways stated that Railway is waiting for the recommendations of the Dr. Bibek Debroy Committee on Mobilisation of Resources and Restructuring of Railways, initiating a long term perspective plan. This will provide consistency in policies and approach which are the key requirements to attract private sector participation and investment in railways. He further emphasized that railways is committed to speed-up reforms in order to augment capacity, induction of new technologies and improve throughput with a view to increase freight share and improve passenger facilities. The present government has adopted an industry-friendly approach with a key focus on fulfilling the transportation needs of the common masses and the country.
Elaborating further, Hon’ble Minister stated that this government emphasizes on execution and implementation of projects as reflected in the last Railway budget. He assured industry that he would consider the request for setting up a Joint Task Force to have constant dialogue and interactions with them, leading to better understanding and implementation of projects. Reacting to industry concerns with regard to payment cycle, minister assured that they would shortly come out with measures which would make the system more responsive and transparent. He also reiterated that the present system will closely look at the risk-sharing mechanism to provide comfort to investors.
Earlier addressing the gathering, Mr. Pankaj Jain, Additional Member, Railways, outlined PPP models that Railways has been contemplating to introduce to attract private sector investments in Railways. These include Non-Government Private Lines Model, Joint Venture Model, BOT-Competitive Bidding Route, Customer Funded Model. 7 projects under PPP have already been executed, leading to addition / guage conversion of 950 line kms at a total investment of 950 crore, he added.
In addition to setting up a Joint Task Force on Railways, CII proposed that projects where private sector participation were being sought can be divided into three categories, namely projects related to infrastructure, those related to manufacturing and projects with regard to operation of railways. These three categories will require three distinct models, taking into consideration the dynamism and issues of risk reward mechanism associated with each of the segment.
The Inaugural Session of the Summit was addressed by Mr. Naresh Aggarwal, Chairman, CII Railway Transportation and Equipment Division and Managing Director & Co – Chairman, VAE VKN Industries Pvt Ltd and Mr. Tilakraj Seth, Vice Chairman, Rail Transportation & Equipment Division, and Executive Vice President, Siemens Ltd.
18 November 2014
New Delhi