Will finish 90% of work on dedicated freight corridors by Jun 2023: RK Jain

DFCCI Managing Director R K Jain says that despite the disruptions from two Covid waves, the Easter dedicated freight corridors (DFC) will be completed soon

With constant monitoring from the highest levels of the government, dedicated freight corridors (DFCs) have been touted to be the long-needed revolution in India's logistics space. After over a decade of being in the pipeline, the finishing line for the first two DFCs – eastern and western, is finally appearing in sight. With the two corridors slated to be near completion by June 2023, Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India's (DFCCI) Managing Director R K Jain tells Dhruvaksh Saha that he's focused on completing detailed project reports (DPRs) for the three new DFCs by December as part of a larger plan to build a countrywide freight corridor network. Edited excerpts:

What is the current progress on DFCs?

Right now, we are working on two DFCs — Eastern and Western. Apart from the stretches undertaken solely by us, there's a PPP project on the Dankuni-Sonnagar stretch (537 kilometres), on which we will start the work soon. Around a year ago, the prime minister inaugurated two parts of the DFCs. Since then, we have opened two more stretches. On the EDFC, 130 km stretch between Prayagraj and Kanpur and a 137 km stretch between Deendayal Upadhyay Nagar and Sonnagar. On the WDFC, 359 km have been opened between Madar and Palanpur, along with the 70 km stretch of Palanpur-Mehsana.

Adding all of that, currently, 47 per cent of the two DFCs are already operational. When the June 2022 target was fixed, Covid-19 hadn't taken off in India. During the first wave, our productive season was lost, and by the time easing happened, the monsoon had arrived, so we couldn't continue with construction. In 2021 again, we were hit by the Delta wave during our peak construction period.

Despite these odds, we will finish 90 per cent of the work on DFCs by June 2023. We are confident of finishing 100 per cent work on EDFC and all work on WDFC, barring a 100-125 km stretch in Maharashtra by then.

Why is the Maharashtra stretch taking so long?

There are some geographical challenges in that area. Monsoon is arriving, so our activity can only start by November. There is also a land availability issue of around two kms near Palghar. While that is the total area, it's not one stretch of land. The land issues are in fragmented patches. There are encroachers on these lands, and according to government regulations, we cannot evict encroachers during monsoons. So any progress on that can happen only after October.

Moreover, a National Green Tribunal NGT) order has stopped all our earthwork. The railway board has also intervened to ensure we can continue the work. So barring this portion, we will be done with 90 per cent by June 2023.

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There had also been concerns over DFCCI's capital expenditure execution. What is your perspective on it?

I want to clarify that there has never been an issue of the non-availability of funds. Our finances are entirely on track, and Indian Railways is keen to give even more than required to ensure efficiency. Our capital expenditure also increased by 8 per cent year-on-year to Rs 14,554 crore in 2021-22, even though there were two Covid waves.

Cost estimates of the two DFCs have been revised. Has the proposal been sanctioned?

We have sent the proposal to the railway ministry with the revised cost of Rs 1.24 trillion. The cost revision currently has not impacted our plans as we have ample available funds as of now.

There are three new DFCs planned by the government — North-South, East-West, and East Coast corridors. What is the progress on the DPRs for those?

We have already submitted interim DPRs to the railway ministry based on abstract costs. There's a total cost of Rs 40-50 crore per km on each DFC, and there is over 4000 km of the new DFCs, so the cost will be in a ballpark based on these initial estimates. The interim report has been submitted, and the final report will be submitted by the end of this year.

The initial timeline for DPR completion was October, but our project scope has recently increased. The East-West corridor was supposed to be only till Bhusawal, but now it has been extended till Palghar. We are looking at extending the Vijaywada segment by 60-70 kms. Hence, the revised timeline is till the end of this year.

Once the detailed cost estimates are sent, the ministry will take a call on sanctioning these projects.

What is the bigger picture of DFCs going forward?

As the project continues, the scale will widen. With the country's economy growing, the transportation and logistics need to grow multifold. Moreover, we need to reduce the cost of logistics, as ours is much higher than most leading economies globally. The DFC network will definitely increase more in the coming years, and the quicker we do it, the better. There will be further penetration in the deep south, and we will also look at connecting the North-South corridor to Delhi via Itarsi.