TN keen to tie up with Railways to set up SPV for projects in industrial corridor

Tamil Nadu is willing in principle to enter into a memorandum of understanding with Indian Railways to set up a special purpose vehicle (SPV) to implement railway projects in the Madurai-Thoothukudi industrial corridor.

This is one of the pre-Railway budget suggestions sent by Chief Minister O Pannerselvam to Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu.

The State government wants to develop the corridor as an integrated project with two sets of projects – industrial node development and trunk infrastructure projects. Three of the trunk infrastructure projects proposed under the corridor were railway projects – the Chennai-Thoothukudi freight corridor, Chennai-Madurai-Kanniyakumari high speed passenger link and Coimbatore-Madurai high speed passenger link, the letter said.

A few days ago, Prabhu urged States to form SPVs with Indian Railways for speedy implementation of railways projects.

Pannerselvam said that land provided by the State government should be treated as State’s equity contribution to SPVs at market value for implementing various railways projects.

Matching equity contributions from the Railway Ministry could be in cash or land owned by the Railways or other Central Government departments.

In the case of equity contributions in cash in the SPV, there should be assurances that these contributions by both sides would be made in time to ensure that projects do not suffer delays due to lack of adequate funding.

The governance structure should be well-balanced, with adequate participation by the State government, he said.

Out of the 217 identified projects in the Tamil Nadu Vision 2023 document, ten are crucial railway projects costing around ₹1,88,400 crore.

Some of the projects, including doubling of the Chennai-Kanniyakumari broad gauge line and the Avadi-Guduvancheri and the Avadi/Tiruvallur-Ennore port link, are being taken up for implementation.

“We request you to kindly ensure that adequate funds are allocated in the railway budget 2015-16 for the early completion of these projects,” he said.

Pannerselvam hoped that the Chennai-Bengaluru freight corridor and the Chennai-Bengaluru high speed passenger link would be high priority projects under the Chennai-Bengaluru Industrial Corridor promoted by the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion.

Pannerselvam urged the integration of the Chennai Mass Rapid Transit System, a project implemented by the Railways with substantial contribution from the Tamil Nadu government both in terms of funds and land, with the Chennai Metro Rail.

This is for effective synergy between various modes of public transport in Chennai.

The issue has been under consideration of the Railway Board and can be accepted as it would involve no financial outlay at all for the Railways, the letter said.

Pannerselvam gave a list of 22 railway projects that were announced in railway budgets but work was yet to commence.

This includes a new line from Morappur to Dharmapuri, a new broad gauge line between Chennai and Sriperumbudur via Saidapet, a 5th and 6th line on Chennai to Villivakkam, and a new line for Villivakkam and Katpadi sections.