Railways-Karnataka inks JV for rail projects

In a bid to build rail network in the suburban areas across city to address to its notorious traffic congestion, the state government of Karnataka and the Railways signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for building suburban railway system. The MoU envisages setting up a special company for the project and it will be financed through an "innovative" way, Railway Minister, Suresh Prabhu said, adding that it is no longer possible for either the state government or the central government to find money from the budget to supplement their normal revenue source to finance entire infrastructure needs. He also pointed out that there were equity related concerns raised by the state government, and they would be looked into. In fact, the railway is going ahead with involvement of the private partners adopting financing pattern of 20% by central government and 80% by the state government.