A ‘Concession Agreement’ has been signed between South East Central Railway (SECR) and Chhattisgarh East Railway ltd (CERl) for development of East Rail Corridor here on Friday. The agreement was signed in the presence of Union Coal Secretary Anil Swarup and Chhattisgarh Chief Secretary Vivek Dhand and SECR General Manager Rajiv Vishnoi at the Mantralaya here.
The agreement was signed between SECR’s Chief Traffic Project Manager AS Babu and CERl Chief Executive Officer (CEO) AK Vishwas. Following the signing of the agreement, the work for the first phase of the Rail Corridor project from Kharsia to Dharamjaygarh spanning a distance of 74 kms will commence shortly.
The project cost of development of the Railway line between Korba to Kharsia is Rs2,322 crore. The development work had been targetted to be completed by September 2017. The agreement has been signed for development, management and operation of the Railway track for the East Corridor between SECR and CERl. As per the agreement, there would be 50:50 revenue sharing between SECR and CERl on freight movement in the developed Rail line.
The CERl would develop and maintain the Rail line and SECR would manage freight and passenger transportation. This is a significant project both for the Central Government and Chhattisgarh Government, Union Coal Secretary Anil Swarup said. Present on the occasion were — Principal Secretary, Forest Department RP Manndal, School Education Department Secretary Subrat Sahoo, Revenue Department Secretary KR Pisda, Nodal Officer for the Rail Corridor Project and Mining Department Secretary Subodh Singh, Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forest Mudit Kumar Singh, Director, Industry and Commerce, Kartikeya Goyal, Chhattisgarh State Industrial Development Corporation Managing Director Sunil Mishra, SECl Chairman and Managing Director Om Prakash, IRCON Chairman and Managing Director Mohan Tiwari, Divisional Railway Manager, Bilaspur Devraj Panda, CERl Chairman A P Panda and Director Sanjay Rastogi besides other officials.