Bhubaneswar: The
Odisha government today urged Union Railways ministry to sanction the
Jeypore-Malkangiri and Jeypore –Nabarangpur railway projects on a priority
basis which will usher socio-economic upliftment of the backward area while
proposing to share part of the cost for these projects.
In
a letter addressed to Union minister for Railways DV Sadananda Gowda today,
Odisha’s Minister for Commerce and Transport, Ramesh Chandra Majhi said;
“Odisha has time and again raised demand for sanctioning Jeypore-Malkangiri and
Jeypore –Nabarangpur railway projects, but it has not yet been sanctioned
probably due to low Rate of Return (RoR)”.
Both
these projects are proposed in one of the most backward, Naxal affected tribal
regions of the country, Majhi said.
“Considering
the socio-economic development that can happen in this area if both these
railway projects are taken up, Government of Odisha has in principle agreed to
provide support for taking up these two projects”, wrote Majhi.
The
Transport minister said the present RoR for Jeypore-Malkangiri railway project
is around 12%. If 25% of the construction cost of the this project is borne by
the state government, the RoR of this project will be more than 17%, well above
the cut off criteria of 14% fixed by the Railways ministry.
“Government
of Odisha in principle gives consent to bear 25% of construction cost of this
project”, the minister proposed in his letter.
In
respect of the Jeypore–Nabarangpur railway project, which has a negative RoR at
present, the minister said; “Government of Odisha, in principle, agrees to
provide all land free of cost and bear 50% of the construction cost”.
Majhi
said even with this support, the RoR of this project may be below 12%.
However,
considering the fact that this project is going to bring socio-economic benefit
to the Naxal affected, tribal dominated backward area, the minister urged the
ministry of Railways to take up this project as a ‘national project’.
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