Snapshot
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DFCC terminates Tata Project contract citing delay in the execution of a 102-km stretch crucial for the completion of Western DFC.
Perturbed over abysmally slow pace of execution, Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation (DFCC) has terminated the contract given to Tata Projects for constructing the 102 km long stretch in the Western DFC.
We are taking all decisions in the interest of the nation, DFCC Managing Director R K Jain told Swarajya on the issue of the termination of the contract to the Tata Projects.
The latest termination move by the DFCC seems to be a further setback to the already delayed ambitious goods corridor project of the country, which has entered a crucial phase of last mile completion.
Though the 102-km long Vitarana-JNPT section contract was given to Tata Projects in 2016, the work progress is only 35 per cent till now which has forced the DFCC authorities to take the drastic step of cancelling the contract and opting for course correction.
DFCC maintains that this cannot go on further as this stretch is “very very crucial for the completion of Western DFC.”
According to DFCC, they would wait for 18 November since the affected party has gone to court. After that a decision is likely to be taken either to execute it by itself or go for another option.
The decision was taken on 4 November and the court has also not given the stay yet. So we are prepared for any situation and do the needful, DFCC maintains.
The 1,506 km long Western DFC connecting Dadri in Uttar Pradesh with JNPT in Maharashtra is slated to be used for double stack containers and also vital for Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor.
The DFC project is being delayed due to land acquisition problems. The Vaitarana-JNP stretch is also facing the same problem of land acquisition and rehabilitation of project-affected persons.
However, according to the DFCC, the land acquisition is almost complete barring the 1.5 km stretch in the Western DFC.
The DFC is expected to reduce the congestion of Indian Railways existing track and also reduce the time required for goods movement between Delhi and Mumbai.
While currently it takes about three days for the freight movement from Delhi to Mumbai, the time would be reduced to less than 24 hours once WDFC is completed.