18.9.09

Western Freight Corridor update

After over three years of negotiation and planning, the western arm of the dedicated freight corridor will finally get on the fast track with the union Cabinet approving a Japanese loan of Rs 17,700 crore. The loan under the Japanese Overseas Development Assistance will be used to fund a 920-kilometre stretch between Rewari (Haryana) and Vadodara (Gujarat) in the western freight corridor. The western corridor, which will cover a distance of distance of 1,483 km of double line diesel track from JNPT to Dadri via Vadodara-Ahmedabad-Palanpur- Phulera- Rewari is expected to cost Rs 26,124 crore. The project is expected to be completed by 2017. "The ODA loan is a soft loan with very low interest of 0.2% per annum that is to be repaid in 30-40 years with a moratorium of 10 years," minister of information and broadcasting Ambika Soni said after the Cabinet meeting. It will start with an engineering services loan of approximately Rs 130 crore.

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