MINISTER OF RAILWAYS AND COMMERCE & INDUSTRY
(SHRI PIYUSH GOYAL)
(a) to (f): A Statement is laid on the Table of the House.
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STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) TO (f) OF UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 584 BY SHRI VASANTHAKUMAR H. AND SHRI S. VENKATESAN TO BE ANSWERED IN LOK SABHA ON 05.02.2020 REGARDING RAILWAY PROJECTS IN TAMIL NADU
(a) to (d): Railway projects are included/sanctioned Zonal Railway-wise, not state-wise. However, total 7 projects (2 New Line projects and 5 Doubling projects), covering a length of 460.76 Km, costing 4799.13 crore, falling fully/partly in the State of Tamil Nadu including Madurai have been included in budget during last five years. This includes:-
- 2 New Line projects covering a length of 53.2 Km, costing 567.25 crore.
- 5 Doubling projects covering a length of 407.56 Km, costing 4231.88 crore.
These projects are in different stages of planning/ sanction/execution.
The project-wise details of projects including cost, expenditure and outlay are made available in public domain on Indian Railways website i.e. www.indianrailways.gov.in >Ministry of Railways >Railway Board >About Indian Railways >Railway Board Directorates >Finance (Budget)>Railway-wise Works Machinery & Rolling Stock Programme> Regular Budget (year).
Average annual Budget Allocation for Infrastructure projects & safety works, falling fully/partly in State of Tamil Nadu, for 2014-19 is 1,979 crore, which is 225% of the average annual Budget outlay of 2009-14 ( 879 crore).
Allocation of Budget for infrastructure projects and safety works, falling fully/partly in State of Tamil Nadu, for 2019-2020 is 2,410 crore, which is 274% of the average annual Budget outlay of 2009-14 ( 879 crore).
The 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 (both underground and over ground), 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 in a year for particular project site due to climatic conditions, encountering unforeseen conditions like earthquake, flooding, excessive rains, strikes of labour, orders of Hon’ble Courts, situation and conditions of working agencies/contractors etc. All these factors vary from project to project and site to site and affect the completion time and cost of the project, which is finally worked out at the completion stage.
To ensure the project is completed in time without cost overrun, lot of monitoring is done in Railway at various levels (Field level, Divisional level, Zonal level and Board level) and regular meetings are held with the officials of States Government and concerned authorities to resolve the pending issues obstructing the progress of projects. Besides to ensure that projects are completed even before time. Railway has adopted the concept of incentives to the contractor in the form of bonus clause in contracts which will further enhance the pace of execution of projects.
For important projects, capacity enhancement projects, last mile connectivity etc, institutional financing has been arranged, which has increased Railways’ capacity for committed fund provision for capacity enhancement projects.
(e) and (f): There are 02 Road Over Bridges (ROBs) and 01 Road Under Bridge (RUB) have been sanctioned in Kanyakumari district. ROBs have been sanctioned in lieu of level crossing (LC) No. 15 at km 259/500-600 between Kuzhithurai and Eraniel railway stations and at LC No. 74 at km 310/000-100 Between Valliyur and Nanguneri railway stations. General Arrangement Drawing (GAD) of both these works has been approved. The work is held up due to land acquisition issues by the State Government. A RUB has been sanctioned in lieu of LC No.82 at km 322/15-16 between Valliyur and Nanguneri railway stations. Railway portion of this RUB has been completed. The approach work is under progress.
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