Talcher-Bimlagarh New Railway Line
GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS
LOK SABHA
UNSTARRED QUESTION NO: 2591
ANSWERED ON: 10.03.2021
Talcher-Bimlagarh New Railway Line
Mahesh Sahoo
Jual Oram
Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state:-
(a) whether slow progress in the construction of new railway line from Talcher to Bimlagarh has been noticed by the Government and if so, the reasons therefor;
(b) whether the Government is likely to make necessary arrangements for the speedy completion of the works;
(c) if so, the progress of the Angul to Sukinda loop line and the time by when the work is likely to be completed; and
(d) the details of the funds that have been sanctioned for the said project?
ANSWER: MINISTER OF RAILWAYS, COMMERCE & INDUSTRY AND CONSUMER AFFAIRS, FOOD & PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION (SHRI PIYUSH GOYAL)
(a) to (d): A Statement is laid on the Table of the House.
STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) TO (d) OF UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2591 BY SHRI MAHESH SAHOO AND SHRI JUAL ORAM TO BE ANSWERED IN LOK SABHA ON 10.03.2021 REGARDING TALCHER-BIMLAGARH NEW RAILWAY LINE
(a) and (b): Railway has taken up the work of Talcher-Bimlagarh (150 km) New Line project. The anticipated cost of the project is Rs.1928 crore. So far, an expenditure of Rs.839 crore has been incurred. Budget outlay of Rs.140 crore has been provided in the Budget 2020-21 for this project. So far, 20 km long Talcher-Sunakhani section of the project has been completed. Further work has been taken up in 23.5 km length from Sunakhani station, km 20.00 to km 43.50. The State Government of Odisha has to expedite land acquisition and handing over of balance 916 acre land.
Completion of any Railway project depends on various factors like quick land acquisition by State Government, forest clearance by officials of forest department, shifting of infringing utilities, 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 available in a year for particular project site due to climatic conditions. All these factors affect the completion time of the project.
To ensure that project is completed in time without cost overrun, lot of monitoring is done in Railways at various levels (field level, Zonal level and Board level) and regular meetings are held with the officials of State Government and concerned authorities to resolve the pending issues obstructing the progress of projects.
(c) and (d): Angul Sukinda (104 km) rail project is being executed by the Joint Venture (JV) company Angul Sukinda Railway Limited (ASRL) under concession by Ministry of Railways under participative mode. The project is under progress and targeted for completion by June, 2022.
The project is being executed under PPP mode and the funding is sourced from equity and debt of the JV company ASRL.