India seeking private investment to fund port connectivity to rail network

The government has allowed limited private participation in rail infrastructure for a decade and is now seeking $1 billion.    The Indian government is targeting $1 billion in private investment to build infrastructure to better connect the country’s ports to its rail network, according to a report from the business journal Live Mint.
   The target date for the investment is 2017, and it would more than triple the $400 million raised from the private sector in the decade since the government started allowing limited private financing for rail projects.
   The report cited connectivity from ports to the broader rail network — in particular, the last-mile connections — as a key roadblock to broader growth of its ports.
   “Over-crowding at ports has been delaying much-needed coal deliveries to Indian power plants and supplies of iron ore for steel makers at a time when there is already a shortfall,” the report said. “Prime Minister Narendra Modi wants private companies, which have held back from investing in freight lines because of the struggle to win the necessary approvals, to build more of the last mile links where bottlenecks bite the most.”