19 rail projects worth INR 75k crore in progress in NE — Goyal

New Delhi, Feb. 3 (IANS): There are 19 ongoing railway projects spanning 2,008 km and worth INR 75,795 crore in the northeastern states, Parliament was told on Wednesday.

In a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha, Railway Minister Piyush Goyal said: “As on April 1, 2020, 19 projects — 13 new lines and six doubling — costing INR 75,795 crore for 2,008 km length falling fully or partly in Assam and North Eastern Region are under different stage of planning or approval or execution.”

Sharing the details, Goyal said of the 13 new line projects of total length of 1,178 km costing INR 57,774 crore, 253 km length has been commissioned and an expenditure of INR 20,157 crore have been incurred up to March 2020.

Of the six doubling projects of total length 830 km and worth INR 18,021 crore, 9 km doubling has been commissioned and an expenditure of INR 1,861 crore has been incurred up to March 2020.

He said that the national transporter is focusing on expediting the railway infrastructure in northeastern frontier hilly region.

Four railway projects — three new lines and one doubling — of total length 23 km costing INR 18,901 crore falling fully or partly in Uttarakhand are under different stage of planning/approval/execution.

The Minister said that three new line projects of total length 216 km costing INR 18,554 crore, out of which 6 km length has been commissioned and an expenditure of INR 2,275 crore incurred up to March 2020.

He said that one doubling project of 27 km length costing INR 347 crore has been commissioned in January 2021.

He also said that presently, there is no ongoing railway project falling fully or partly in Ladakh.

He stressed that the completion of any railway project depends on various factors like quick land acquisition by state government, forest clearance by officials of the Forest Department, shifting of infringing utilities (both underground and over ground), statutory clearances from various authorities, geological and topographical conditions of area, law and order situation in the area of project site, number of working months in a year for particular project site due to climatic considerations etc.

“All these factors vary from project to project and site to site which affect the completion time and cost of the project, which is finally worked out at the completion stage. As such, confirmed completion time of projects cannot be ascertained at this stage; nevertheless, every effort is being made to commission the projects expeditiously,” he said.