Rs 15,000-cr Golden quadrilateral, port link project — Rlys searching for pvt consultant

FOR the first time in its history, the Railways is looking at a private consultant for advice. The consultants, who are to be selected shortly, would advise the Railways on the Rs 15,000-crore Golden Quadrilateral and Port Connectivity project being executed by Rail Vikas Nigam Ltd (RVNL).

"The RVNL board has approved a proposal to appoint a private consultant to advise on the feasibility of the projects identified under the scheme and work out a model concession agreement," the Railway Board Chairman, Mr R.K. Singh, told Business Line.

"We need a consultant as all of these projects are outside Railways funding and would be executed either on a build-operate-transfer (BOT) or special purpose vehicle (SPV) basis."

The Railways-owned consultancy firm, Rites Ltd, has already carried out the feasibility analysis for these projects and prepared cost estimates for the works.

The private consultant is expected to revalidate the techno-economic feasibility reports prepared by Rites to ensure greater credibility as these projects are being pitched for private sector and multilateral funding.

Usually, the in-house consultancy firm prepares the feasibility reports for all Railway projects.

Mr Singh said that the RVNL board met on Monday and decided to invite bids from leading consultants to act as advisors to the Railways. The advertisement calling bids is likely to be released in the next couple of weeks, he added.

While the Asian Development Bank has already committed Rs 1,500 crore for the project, a World Bank team is arriving in Delhi this week for discussions on the Railways' demand for Rs 6,500 crore funds.

The Railways has also started talks with banks and financial institutions for funding the project.

Meetings were recently held in Mumbai and New Delhi with bankers, infrastructure experts and port sector professionals where the contours of the project were spelt out, Mr Singh said.

RVNL is an SPV created by the Railways earlier this year to undertake the line doubling, gauge conversion, new line and electrification works under the Port Connectivity and Golden Quadrilateral projects.

According to Mr Singh, the corporate structure of RVNL has also been approved.

The company will have one Managing Director and four directors. The Chairman of the Railway Board will be its ex-officio Chairman.

Meanwhile, the Railway Ministry has appointed Mr Ranjan Kumar Jain as officer on special duty (OSD) to RVNL and Rail Bhawan sources said that he is the leading contender for the post of Managing Director.

A panel of names would soon be forwarded to the Cabinet Committee on Appointments (ACC) for appointment of a full-time Managing Director, they added.