Mumbai:
South Korean steel major Posco and eight other companies
have confirmed their participation in the Rs590-crore
special purpose vehicle (SPV) to develop the Paradip-Haridaspur
railway line. The nine companies are expected to sign
the shareholders' agreement shortly.
Rail
Vikas Nigam Ltd (RVNL), a wholly owned subsidiary of
Indian Railways, with equity of 48 per cent, will lead
the SPV. Posco (India) Private Limited, the Indian subsidiary
of Posco, would pick up 10 per cent equity, the sources
said.
The
other players include Paradip Port Trust (10 per cent),
Essel Mining Industries Limited (10.91 per cent), Rungta
Mining and Industries Limited (10.91 per cent), MSPL
Mining (5.45 per cent), Jindal Steel and Power Limited
(1.82 per cent), SAIL (1.82 per cent) and Infrastructure
Development Corporation of Orissa (0.66 per cent). The
total debt-equity ratio in the SPV would be 1:1.
"Decks
have been cleared for the signing of shareholders' agreement
for the SPV with an objective to manage logistics in
a very cost effective way," RVNL sources said.
The
SPV was floated by RVNL along with five other players
and the MoU was signed on May 25, 2005. Subsequently,
POSCO, SAIL and MSPL joined the consortium considering
favourable rate of return in the project.
RVNL
has taken up 10 projects under the National Rail Vikas
Yojana for implementation in West Bengal and Orissa.
Four of them are in West Bengal and six in Orissa. These
include new railway projects, doubling of lines, construction
of a third as well as fourth line and electrification
of railway tracks.
The
Orissa projects include the 12-km Cuttack-Barang line
(Rs127 crore), to be completed in 2007-08; the 20-km
Rajatgarh-Barang line (Rs166 crore), to be completed
in 2007-08; and the 35-km Barang-Khurda line (Rs133
crore), to be completed
in 2007-08. The one in West Bengal, the 59-km Panskura-Haldia
project, is estimated to cost Rs247 crore. The project
is expected to be completed in 2008-09.
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