Gunupur-Therubali Railway Line Project
GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS
LOK SABHA
UNSTARRED QUESTION NO: 3802
ANSWERED ON: 11.12.2019
Gunupur-Therubali Railway Line Project
Saptagiri Sankar Ulaka
Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state:-
(a) Whether the Railways is now backing away from Gunupur-Therubali New Railway Line Project citing poor Rate of Return (RoR);
(b) Whether the Railways has not put up the project to CCEA for approval and if so, the details thereof along with the plan for completion of the project;
(c) Whether the Railways is now requesting 50 per cent of cost to be borne by the State Government due to poor rate of return and if so, the details thereof;
(d) Whether the Ministry of Railways was not aware of RoR at the time of sanctioning the project in the Budget of 2017-2018; and
(e) The changes that have occurred since the sanctioning of project that has affected the RoR?
ANSWER – MINISTER OF RAILWAYS AND COMMERCE & INDUSTRY (SHRI PIYUSH GOYAL)
(a) to (c): No, Sir. Extension of Naupada-Gunupur line upto Theruvali was included in the Budget 2017-18 subject to requisite approvals (viz. NITI Aayog and Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs). Detailed Project Report (DPR) of the project has been prepared. As per DPR, the cost of the project is approx. Rs.1274 crore with Rate of Return (-)3.19%.
State Government of Odisha has been requested for providing land free of cost and sharing 50% cost of the project as the project is financially unviable. Consent of Government of Odisha is awaited.
Project is put up to CCEA, only after completion of formalities like finalizing the funding mechanism of the project.
(d) and (e): Do not arise, as the project is not yet sanctioned.