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DFCCIL revokes termination of Vaitarana-JN Port section of dedicated freight line given to Tata Projects, Infra News, ET Infra

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DFCCIL revokes termination of Vaitarana-JN Port section of dedicated freight line given to Tata Projects

MUMBAI: In a rare U-turn, the Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India Ltd (DFCCIL) has overturned its decision to terminate a contract given to Tata Projects Ltd for constructing a crucial 102 km-long last mile stretch of the Western dedicated freight corridor from Vaitarana to Jawaharlal Nehru Port in Maharashtra after the Tata Group company assured it would complete the much-delayed stretch by June 2024.

“The DFCCIL has revoked the termination of the Vaitarana to Jawaharlal Nehru Port contract on the basis of assurances given by Tata Projects to complete the project by June 2024,” said an official briefed on the matter.

“The assurances sought by DFCCIL from Tata Projects has to be complied within a week,” the official added.

Tata Projects was awarded the Vaitarana- J N Port section in March 2017 and per the contractual timeline, the work was supposed to be completed in 208 weeks (about 4 years) from the start of work, by March 2021.

The deadline was further extended to March 2022.

Tata Projects has missed the deadline due to multiple issues including some vexed contractual matters, the official said.

ET Infra was the first to report on the contract termination involving Tata Projects, including its impact on the participation of Tata Group and its consortium partners in future tenders of DFCCIL and other government entities.

The news report is understood to have created ripples in Tata management and brought them to terms, the official said.

The contract termination would have further delayed the completion of the 1,506 km-long Western DFC linking Dadri in Uttar Pradesh with Jawaharlal Nehru Port in Maharashtra by at least two years or till December 2026.

This is because the DFCCIL would have to issue a fresh tender to pick a contractor to complete the work.

The scrapping of the contract would bar Tata Projects Ltd and its consortium partners from participating in future tenders of DFCCIL or other government entities for two years, per tender conditions.

The Express Freight Consortium led by Japan’s Mitsui & Co Ltd and comprising State-owned IRCON International Ltd and Tata Projects was awarded contracts by DFCCIL for civil and track works between Jawaharlal Nehru Port in Maharashtra and Makarpura near Vadodara in Gujarat, in 2016 and 2017.

The 422 km-long stretch was split into three packages – Tata Projects was given the contract for the 134 km stretch from Makarpura to Sachin in Gujarat, IRCON International got the 186 km long section from Sachin in Gujarat to Vaitarana in Maharashtra and Tata Projects won the 102 km long end stretch of the DFC from Vaitarana to Jawaharlal Nehru Port in Maharashtra.

IRCON International and Tata Projects will jointly carry out civil engineering work and lay tracks, using high-quality Japanese-made rails.

Mitsui & Co is the Project Management Consultant (PMC) for the entire 422 km stretch.

Till date, DFCCIL has commissioned a little over half of the 1,506 km long Western dedicated freight line and is hoping to commission the stretch up to Vaitarana by December 2023.

The blacklisting from future tenders is also an embarrassment for Mitsui & Co, a top Japanese conglomerate, particularly given the fact that the DFC is being part-funded through a loan from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).

The end mile stretch to J N Port is critical for the full-scale commissioning of DFC.

“DFC can run double stack container trains whereas the Indian Railways network is not compliant with double stack trains. So, the purpose for which the government is building the DFC will be defeated if DFCCIL is not able to run double stack container trains from end to end,” the official said.

For close to a decade, the DFCCIL has been struggling with land acquisition and rehabilitation of project affected persons (PAPs) on the Vaitarana-J N Port stretch, besides other “restrictions” in Mumbai region. The final stretch has two tunnels, four via ducts and a rail flyover.

Land acquisition is now almost complete, barring a 1.5 km stretch.

Out of the 3,215 PAPs in and around Vasai, Virar, Dombivili and Bhiwandi areas, DFCCIL has rehabilitated 3,190 PAPs and the balance 25 have resorted to litigation.

The Western DFC between Delhi and Mumbai will be the backbone of the Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC) scheme, a joint initiative by the Japanese and Indian governments. In addition to reducing the load that is on the existing tracks, it will reduce the time required to move freight from Delhi to Mumbai from over three days at present to less than a day. This major improvement in logistical efficiency is expected to make a significant contribution to industrial development in India.



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