Railways suggests changes to private partnership policy

NEW DELHI: Railways has proposed two major amendments to its over a decade-old public private partnership (PPP) policy to bring greater certainty in recovery of private investment and reduce risk. The changes will include offering a 50-year concession period and railways taking the entire responsibility of land acquisition.

Officials said the revised policy is crucial, considering railways has identified 15 projects worth Rs 35,800 crore for PPP, including laying of new lines, doubling of tracks and redevelopment of stations by March 2028. At present, in most cases the concession period ranges between 20 to 35 years.

“We have forwarded some projects under PPP for final approval and more will be added to the list. The two critical changes will take care of all risks any project faces,” said a railway official.

At present, PPP projects in railways are executed under a 2012 policy and till Dec 2025, only 18 such projects of Rs 16,686 crore have been completed through the route. Seven projects of Rs 16,362 crore are under implementation, including coal connectivity and port connectivity projects.

Officials said under the current policy, the cost of land acquisition is borne by the private player or the special purpose vehicle (SPV) formed for a particular project, with railways acquiring land. One of them said, “In the proposed changes, railways will have the entire responsibility of land acquisition cost and the process for getting land.” Land acquisition has often resulted in project delays and govt is learning from the experience of building highways.

Officials said a beginning has been made with railways minister Ashwini Vaishnaw recently announcing 50-year concession period for Gati Shakti Multi-Modal Cargo Terminals (GCTs) as a part of a broader policy.