States sign JV agreements with MoR for railway infrastructure development

The MoR has recently signed a JV agreement with the Jharkhand government for facilitating the speedy development of railway infrastructure in the state. The Jharkhand government has identified three projects for the JV company to take up – Namkum-Kandra, Giridih-Parasnath-Madhuban and Tori-Chatra rail lines – covering a length of 222 km and estimated to cost Rs 21.5 billion. Meanwhile, the Madhya Pradesh state cabinet has also approved a proposal for initiating a JV agreement with the MoR for augmenting railway infrastructure and the MoU is likely to be signed soon. Meanwhile, the JV company of the Madhya Pradesh government and the MoR will initially have funds of Rs 1 billion which will be arranged through different sources in addition to provisions under the state budget and borrowings from financial institutions. The scope of work of the JV will be limited to the implementation of track expansion. Under both agreements, the state governments will have an equity stake of 51 per cent each while the MoR will hold 49 per cent.