By TIOL News Service

NEW DELHI, AUG 25, 2020: Mr Piyush Goyal, Minister of Railways and Commerce & Industry, yesterday reviewed the progress of Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation India Limited (DFCCIL). During the meeting, the senior officials informed the current status of the project. It is expected that Western Corridor connecting Dadri in Utttar Pradesh to Jawaharlal Nehru Port (JNPT) in Mumbai and Eastern Corridor starting from Sahnewal near Ludhiana (Punjab) to terminate at Dankuni in West Bengal shall be completed by December, 2021.

Mr Goyal directed the DFFCIL management team to necessary steps to speed up the project to compensate the loss of time due to lockdown during COVID. He also advised the officials to identify the most challenging area and come up with solution in a mission mode. He suggested that involving young fresh minds to suggest best solutions may be encouraged.

During the meeting, it was decided that strict monitoring of work of all contractors to be done. Resolution of all issues, including coordination with the States to be done on a Mission mode. Innovative mechanisms to constantly monitor the weekly progress of the project to be evolved.

Dedicated Freight Corridors (DFC) is one of the largest rail infrastructure projects undertaken by the Government of India. The overall cost is pegged at Rs 81,459 crores. DFCCIL has been set up as a special purpose vehicle to undertake planning, development, mobilization of financial resources, construction, maintenance and operation of Dedicated Freight Corridors. In the first phase the organisation is constructing the Western DFC (1504 Route km) and Eastern DFC (1856 route km) spanning a total length of 3360 route km.