NEW DELHI, March 17 — In keeping with the promise made in the Railway Budget, the Railway Minister today allocated Rs 60 crore for Bogibeel Bridge out of Rs 150 crore sanctioned for the four rail bridges out of National Rail Vikas Yojana (NRVJ). The proposal to fund the four mega rail bridge projects was made by Railway Minister, Nitish Kumar, in the Railway Budget. The Government had decided to source funds for NRVY from a mix of budgetary and non-budgetary sources.
The allocation of Rs 150 crore for the 2003-2004 financial year was made today by the Railway Ministry under NRVY. Out of the total amount, Rs 60 crore has been provided for Bogibeel Bridge with linking lines between Dibrugarh and North Bank line at an anticipated cost oof Rs 1,767.36 crore. The other three projects included the Monghur rail-cum-road-bridge, Patna Ganga Bridge and Kosi Bridge.
The rail connectivity through mega bridges under NRVY is intended to get over the infrastructure bottleneck to meet the challenges of globalisation in bulk transportation of goods. According to the Railway Ministry non-budgetary resources will come from multilateral funding from agencies like the World Bank and Asian Development Bank, loans from domestic financial institutions and public-private patnership. Non-Budgetary funding will be arranged by Rail Vikas Nigam Limited.
The projects under NRVY, except the mega bridges, are planned for completion in a period of five years. The mega bridges are targeted for completion within six to seven years. NRVY announced by the Prime Minister in December 2002, provides four mega bridges for allround infrastructural development of the nation through accelerated rail connectivity of major ports. The projects are targeted for completion in seven years’ time.