In order to give fillip to public-private partnership in the railway sector, a new investment model known as Hybrid BoT (build-operate-transfer) document has been forwarded to the Cabinet for approval, according to a senior official from the Ministry of Railways.
Indian Railways in consultation with the Ministry of Finance and NITI Aayog has formulated the new document which seeks to give boost to public-private partnership and for wider acceptability in the sector.
“A new document has been evolved in consultation with the industry and it is a new sort of document which we have named as Hybrid BoT (build-operate-transfer) document in consultation with the Ministry of Finance and NITI Aayog. It has reached up to the Cabinet,” said R.N. Singh, Principal Executive Director (Infrastructure) and Secretary, Railway Board, Ministry of Railways at ET Infra Rail Show on Friday.
The new document is a proactive approach for attracting investment in the railway sector, he added.
The build-operate-transfer model as a public-private partnership has been mostly utilised in the road sector, wherein the government grants a project/asset to a private entity and the same is transferred back to the government after a specified period. The private entity brings in financing for the project and is allowed to collect user charges during the concession period.
Under the National Monetisation Pipeline, the government is looking to monetise railways assets worth Rs.1,52,496 crore between 2022 and 2025. The monetisation of assets include railway tracks, dedicated freight corridor tracks and related infrastructure, stations, railway colonies, warehouses, freight terminals, among others.
On augmenting passenger transport services, Singh outlined that bids for 400 semi-high speed Vande Bharat trains are in process. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in her budget speech for 2022-23 (Apr-Mar) in February had stated that 400 Vande Bharat trains would be introduced in the coming three years.
Singh highlighted that Indian Railways has been working continuously to reduce dependence on imports with imported procurement declining from 5.6% in 2013-14 to 2.5% currently and is likely to be reduced further. More than 97% components are being sourced indigenously, he said.
Sudhendu Sinha, Adviser,Infrastructure and Connectivity, NITI Aayog, who was also present at ET Infra Rail Show, outlined that railways has a big role to play in the National Logistics Policy unveiled recently, which aims to bring down the country’s logistics cost to single digits as percentage of gross domestic product.
“After PM Gati Shakti and now that we have the National Logistics Policy….some new interventions will again be coming to ensure that project delivery improves in railways,” said Sinha. Quality, life cycle of coaches, components have improved and Vande Bharat is one of the examples, he stated.
