Telangana approves joint venture with Railways

Hyderabad: The state government has finally agreed to sign an agreement to set up a joint venture company with the railway ministry to develop, finance and implement railway projects in the state.

The TS government will have 51 per cent shares in the joint ventures and the railway ministry 49. The railway ministry and the state government had signed a memorandum of understanding to form the joint venture company. The company was to have  an authorised share capital of Rs 200 crore with an initial paid up capital of Rs 100 crore.

The JV was to undertake project development works including conducting the related surveys and preparation of detailed project reports and would secure approval from the ministry of railways and the state government.

As per the provisions of the MoU, a draft joint venture agreement was prepared in consultation with the law ministry to ensure uniformity with state governments.

The TS government did not sign of the agreement and instead asked for some powers and made eight suggestions. Following this, Railway Board executive director (joint ventures) Rajesh Agarwal wrote to the TS government stating that several states including Chhat-tisgarh, Gujarat, Kerala, Odisha, Haryana, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh had signed similar agreements which was uniform to all states.

The ministry asked the TS government to sign up, as the agreement would provide active representation to the state in the planning of railway infrastructure projects and expedite implementation on the state’s priority.