PANAJI: Launching and commissioning of new projects by Indian Railways (IR) will benefit small industries, said the Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu, on Friday.
Speaking at an industry function, Prabhu said that the Indian Railways has investments worth Rs 850,000 crore lined up for the next five years, and gains from it will percolate down to small, micro and medium units.
“Small units will benefit by being a part of the global supply chain and becoming component manufacturers to large companies,” he explained.
On being asked for a project to directly benefit Goa, he said that a clean project that will help local industry is under consideration.
Prabhu was the keynote speaker at the Goa State Industries Association (GSIA) annual general function.
Speaking to industrialists and unit owners, he said that, in 10 years’ time the Indian Railways will be a completely different organisation as measures have been implemented to modernise, transform management and improve customer service.
“My ministry has drawn up an end-to-end plan to turn around Indian Railways,”he said.
Funds for the mega investment planned for Indian Railways will come from soft loans from Japan, Asian Development Bank and also countries like Korea, Germany, France and China, which are ready to assist in modernisation of Indian Railways, he said.
Suresh Gupta, managing director of Konkan Railway Corporation (KRC) accompanied the Railway Minister.
KRC with five freight trains and 23 passenger trains (each way) is virtually running at its highest limit of capacity, said Gupta.
However incremental increase in capacity is being undertaken through constructing additional stations and doubling of tracks, he said.
“KRC is also looking at introducing different services such as unreserved trains to cater to a segment of train travelers. Attempts are being made to increase the non-fare revenue of KRC from six per cent of the total revenue to 30 per cent,” he added.
Earlier, Sudin Naik, president of GSIA, said that at the state level not much has improved for industry in terms of infrastructure despite several reforms at the Centre.
Goan industry continues to face power fluctuations and shortage of water (at Verna), he said.
SMEs make the core of industrial development but lack government support, he added.
The annual function was attended by Raj Kumar Kamat, vice president of GSIA and members of the association.