3.2               Status of physical progressof projects

The status of the 146 projects assigned to RVNL for execution is as under: -

Projects completed up to March 2016                  :           49

Projects under implementation                            :           88

Project yet to be sanctioned                               :            9

3.2.1     The list of 49 projects fully completed up to March, 2016 is as under:

Cumulatively, RVNL has till now completed a total of 1997.59 km of doubling, 1590 km of gauge conversion, 213.82 km of new lines and 2479.07 km of Railway Electrification. Thus, as on 31.03.16, 6280.48km out of a total length of 13026 km of 137 sanctioned projects (9 are yet to be sanctioned) assigned to RVNL, have been completed.

3.3               Projects completed during 2015-16:

During 2015-16, 697.66 km (352.59 km of Doubling, 17 km of New Line and 328.07 km of Railway Electrification) of project length have been physically completed including sections of important projects such as Rajatgarg - Barang Doubling, Khurda - Barang Doubling, Hospet-Tinaighat Doubling, Jaroli (Banspani) - Jakhapura Doubling, Villupuram - Dindigul Doubling, Abu Road - Sarotra Road Patch Doubling,  Rani-Keshavganj Doubling, Swaroopganj-Abu Road Patch Doubling, Karjoda- Palanpur Doubling, Rewari-Manheru Doubling With RE, Daund - Gulbarga Doubling, Raipur - Titlagarh Doubling, Bhimsen - Jhansi Doubling with RE, Sambalpur-Titlagarh Doubling, Bina - Kota Doubling with RE, Dallirajhara-Raoghat New Line, Pune – Wadi-Guntakal RE, Amala-Chhindwara-Kalumna RE etc.

In addition, Railway Electrification of 230.14 km was also carried out in other than specific Railway Electrification projects as part of Doubling and New Line Works. RVNL’s efforts towards capacity building in execution of signaling and telecommunication works have paid dividends and during the year important doubling, 3rd line projects have been commissioned involving large scale Solid State Interlocking and NIs of major yards on busy routes.

3.3.1              Sections completed under Doubling Plan Head:

3.3.1.1         Rajatgarg - Barang Doubling: During the year, with completion of 12.3 km sections of Chudanga Garh-Bhubaneswar New (7.3 km) in November, 2015 & Naraj- Chudanga Garh (5 km) in March, 2016, the entire project has been completed.

3.3.1.2         Khurda - Barang Doubling: During the year, Bhubneshwar New-Mancheswar (6.66 km) section was completed in November, 2015.

3.3.1.3         Hospet-Tinaighat Doubling: During the year, 78.04 km of project length was completed. Kambarganvi-Alnavar (11.57 km) was completed in May, 2015 under MoU time line target, Banapur-Koppal (12.23 km) was completed in June, 2015, Binkadkatti-Gadag (4.98 km) in July, 2015, Devrayi-Shivthan (7.97 km) in August, 2015, Hulkoti- Binkadkatti (7.62 km) in November, 2015, Koppal-Ginigera (11.08 km) in December, 2015, Alnavar-Tavargatti (8.81 km) in January, 2016 and Shivthan-Londa (4.83 km) in March, 2016.

3.3.1.4         Jaroli (Banspani) - Jakhapura Doubling: During the year, Chilikidhara – Sagadapeta (11.2 km) was completed in November, 2015 under MoU time line target and Keonjhar - Naranpur (5.6 km) was completed in June, 2015.

3.3.1.5         Villupuram - Dindigul Doubling: During the year, 69.5 km of project length was completed. Chettiyapatti – Vaiyampatti (7 km) & Ayyalur-Kalpattichatram (9 km) were completed in June 2015 and July 2015 respectively under the MoU time line target. Sendurai-Mathur (8 km), Vridhachallam-Tallanallur (8.86 km), Ariyalur-Sillakkudi (6.76) were completed in April, 2015, Tiruchchirappalli Jn. to Srirangam (12 km) in May, 2015, Ichchangadu-Mathur (6.11 km) & Kandambakkam-Villupuram (8 km) in September, 2015, Tiruvennainallur-Kandambakkam (8 km) in October, 2015 and Srirangam to Valadi (9 km) in December, 2015.

3.3.1.6         Abu Road - Sarotra Road Patch Doubling: Sri Amirgarh-Sarotra Road (5.4 km) was completed in March, 2016.

3.3.1.7         Rani-Keshavganj Doubling: During the year, Khimel-Falna (8.13 km) and Biroliya-Jawai Bandh (8.22 km) sections were completed under Mou time line targets in April 2015 and October, 2015 respectively. Rani-Khimel (5.5 km) was also completed in April, 2015.

3.3.1.8         Swaroopganj-Abu Road Patch Doubling: Swaroopganj-Bhimana (8.59 km) was completed in December, 2015.

3.3.1.9         Karjoda- Palanpur Doubling: With completion of Karjoda- Palanpur Section (5.4 km), the entire project was completed in March, 2016.

3.3.1.10     Rewari-Manheru Doubling with RE: During the year, 47.19 km project length was completed. Kisangarh Balawas-Jatusana (8.84 km) was completed in June, 2015,Jatusana-Kosli (10.64 km) in July, 2015, Kosli-Sudhrana (5.35 km) in August, 2015, Jharli-Charkhi Dadri (13.78 km) in November, 2015 and Sudhrana-Jharli (8.58 km) in January, 2016.

3.3.1.11     Daund - Gulbarga Doubling: During the year, 20.57 km project length was completed. Malikpeth- Angar (7.06 km) was completed in May, 2015, Vakav-Madha (7.2 km) in July, 2015 and Anger-Vakav (9.0 km) in December, 2015.

3.3.1.12     Raipur - Titlagarh Doubling: Titlagarh-Rahenbhata (7 km) & Rahenbhata-Muribahal (10 km) sections were completed under MoU time line targets in June, 2015 and September, 2015 respectively.Muribahal-Kantabanji section (14.0 km) was completed in March, 2016.

3.3.1.13     Bhimsen - Jhansi Doubling with RE: Pokhrayan-Malasa section (9.8 km) was completed in February, 2016.

3.3.1.14     Sambalpur-Titlagarh Doubling: Hirakud-Godbhaga section (8.59 km) was completed in February, 2016.

3.3.1.15     Bina - Kota Doubling with RE: Piplod Road-Atru section (6.92 km) was completed in February, 2016.

3.3.2              Sections completed under New Line Plan Head:

3.3.2.1         Dallirajhara-Raoghat New Line: During the year, Dallirajhara- Dondi (17 km) New Line was completed in May, 2015.

3.3.3              Sections completed under Railway Electrification Plan Head:

3.3.3.1         Pune - Wadi-Guntakal RE: During the year, 288.07 km of project length was completed as per details given below:

3.3.3.2          

3.3.3.3         Amala-Chhindwara-Kalumna RE: During the year, 30 km of project length was completed. Navegaon-Hirdagarh (20 km) was completed in May, 2015 and Hirdagarh-Junnardeo (10.0 km) in August, 2015.

3.3.3.4         Rewari-Manheru RE: Jatusana-Kosli (10.0 km) was completed in December, 2015.

3.3.4     Barddhaman Yard - 4-lane Road Over Bridge in lieu of 2-lane Road Over Bridge No. 213: An old multi span ROB carrying a large number of fast and slow moving vehicles along with pedestrian traffic which was connecting G.T. Road side of Barddhaman town with Kalna-Katwa Road has been replaced by a four lane Cable Stayed Road Over Bridge over Barddhaman Yard. The entire execution was done over busy yard on Howrah- Delhi Rajdhani route comprising of 10 Nos. of tracks and 8 Nos. of platforms and entire erection was done in a record time of 200 days. The RoB was completed on 29.02.2016. The Barddhaman Yard is one of the busiest yard of Eastern Railway The bridge was commissioned without disturbing the railway traffic on this route in the month of March 2016.

3.4               Projects Fully Commissioned and Handed Over to Railways:   

Out of 49 projects completed so far, following 41 projects have been fully commissioned and handed over to Railways for Operations and maintenance:

3.5               Sections of Projects Commissioned and handed over to Railways in 2015-16:

In 2015-16, 525.25 km following sections have been commissioned consisting of 242.25 km of Doubling, 17 km of New Line and 266 km of Railway Electrification and handed over to Zonal Railways for operations:

3.6               Signalling and Telecommunication

3.6.1          The Company has achieved commendable success in commissioning of signalling works associated with Doubling, third line, Intermediate Block Signalling and yard remodelling. During the year 2015-16, RVNL commissioned 54 stations on 3rd line and Doubling projects, 40 stations on Railway Electrification, 10 Mid-section Level Crossing Gates and 7 IBS. The Company has also been able to successfully commission telecom works involving laying of optic fibre cables and 6 Quad cables of a total of 726 km.

3.7               Projects under implementation:

The list of 88 projects under various stages of implementation is as under:

3.8               Kolkata Metro Projects

3.8.1          Four major projects for the extension of Kolkata Metro were transferred to RVNL in March 2010 viz.

·                     Baranagar - Barrackpore & Dakshineswar (14.5 Km);

·                     Dum Dum Airport - New Garia Via Rajerhat (32 Km);

·                     Joka - Binoy Badal Dinesh Bagh Via Majerhat (16.72 Km); 

·                     Naopara (Ex.) - Baranagar (2.6 Km).

RVNL has processed these projects at a good pace for their early execution, despite the fact that no detailed project report (DPR) was prepared at the time of sanctioning of these projects by the Government.

The foundation stone for Joka - Binoy Badal Dinesh Bagh project, was laid by Her Excellency, President of India on 22.09.2010. The contract for execution of works was awarded in December 2010. 1276 piles, 299 pile caps, 278 piers, 273 pier caps and 268 segment erection has been completed on the Joka - Mominpur section of the project. Work for construction of stations at Joka, Thakurpukur, Sakherbazar, Behala Bazar and Tartala has been awarded in April 2012. 1409 piles, 247 pile caps, 249 piers and 6 Pier Caps have also been completed for stations.  Structures for stations at Joka, Sakherbazar and Thakurpukur are in an advanced stage of completion.

The contracts for viaduct portion between New Garia to Rabindra Tirtha section of Dum Dum Airport - New Garia project in 4 packages have also been awarded on 21.10.2011. Survey and Geotechnical work have been completed. 5105 working piles, 596 pile caps, 565 piers, 442 pier caps and 4209 segments have been cast and 2929segments have been launched. The contracts for 21 stations (3 Packages) have also been awarded on 05.03.2014. The Survey, Geotechnical work and Utility diversion are completed for all the stations. For construction of stations 1920 piles, 188 pile caps, 184 piers have been cast.

The contract for Naupara - Baranager (2.6 km) and Baranagar - Dakshineswar (2 km) including 2 station buildings was awarded in September 2010 which had to be terminated in November 2010 as the contractor did not start work. The tender was reinvited and fresh contract was awarded in February 2011. After detailed designing of corridor, 514 piles, 35 pile caps, 20 piers, 01pier caps and 74 I girders have been cast. Construction of station at Dakshineswar has again started despite of severe problems of encroachments. A 195 m diversion of express way to facilitate construction of via duct has also been completed. There are about 500 encroachments which have to be relocated/removed. The second contract has also been terminated due to poor performance of the contractor. Tender for balance work has been awarded on 27.10.2014.

In Baranagar- Barrackpore, tender for road widening was awarded, 100% of the utility identification work has been completed and 100% geotechnical investigation work has been completed. The tenders for viaduct and stations will be invited only after the water pipe lines are closed by the State Government. This decision is pending and assistance is needed from Government of West Bengal.

3.9               Projects yet to be Sanctioned:

(i)                  Surat - Hajira New Line             

(ii)                 Rail Connectivity to Vizhinjam International Seaport Limited (VISL)

(iii)               Vizianagaram -Samabalpur 3rd Line

(iv)               Bhadrak-Viziznagaram 3rd Line

(v)                Mathura-Jhansi 3rd Line

(vi)               Vijayawada - Gudur 3rd Line

(vii)             Kharagpur-Adityapur 3rd Line

(viii)            Madurai-Maniyachi-Tuticorin Doubling with RE

(ix)               Maniyachi - Nagarcoil Doubling with RE

3.10            Accidents

During the year 2015-16, no accident was reported from any of the project sites on RVNL account.

3.11            ADBfunded projects:

The first ADB loan (IND-1981) sanctioned for “Railway Sector Improvement” has been closed on 31.12.2011. A 2nd ADB Loan has also been sanctioned for funding of 5 projects, namely:

·         Raipur-Titlagarh doubling

·         Sambalpur-Titlagarh doubling

·         Hospet-Tinaighat doubling

·         Daund-Gulbarga doubling

·         Pune-Guntakal Railway Electrification

The funding by ADB requires compliance of various loan covenants on resettlement and rehabilitation of project affected persons, procurement of works and stores following international competitive bidding and implementation of plans for mitigation of social and environmental impact norms. A Multi Tranche Financing Facility of $ 500 million has been agreed to by ADB. The loan agreement for first Tranche (Loan No. 2793-IND) of this MFF for an amount of $ 150 million was signed in July 2012. 16 of the total 18 contracts have been awarded and tenders for remaining 2 RE packages have been invited.Of these 16 contracts, 2 contracts were terminated and new contracts were fixed. The contract for General Consultants for these 5 projects were awarded in May 2013. The loan agreement for second Tranche (Loan No. 3108-IND) of this MFF for an amount of $ 130 million was signed in February 2014. The contracts for supply of 60 kg Rails & 52 kg Rails were awarded in March, 2014. The contract for supply of Thick Web Switcheswas awarded in December, 2014. Contracts for appointment of NGOs to implement the rehabilitation and resettlement policies of the ADB were finalised and the work of R&R is in an advanced stage.

During the year 2015-16, an amount of Rs 378.84 crore equivalent to $ 57.83 million has been disbursed by ADB.

3.12            Contracting:

As the size of projects being executed by RVNL is quite large, to ensure fast award and execution of projects, RVNL invites tenders consisting of multiple packages.  Each tender may consist of upto 3 contract packages.  This approach has a number of advantages such as:

a)                   Multiple contracts can be awarded through one tender which saves time and effort in invitation and finalization of tenders.

b)                   Both small and large agencies can compete for any contract package which increases competition.

c)                   Large agencies who are capable of executing big contracts can quote for multiple packages to achieve economies of scale and pass on the benefit to RVNL by quoting discounts in case of award of more than one package.

d)                   Smaller agencies, which would not be eligible to quote if the tender for the project was floated in a single package, are now able to compete in any of the contract packages individually as they may meet the qualification requirements of individual packages which are of comparatively smaller value.

During 2015-16, contracts worth approximately ` 3432.41 crore were awarded.

The following major contracts were awarded by the Company during the year:

·           Package 1 - Execution of Gauge Converasion of existing Meter Gauge track between Sabarmati (incl.) & Kothgangad (incl.) stations (77.00 Kms) : Construction of Roadbed, Bridges, Supply of Ballast, Dismantlng of existing MG track, Installation of track (excluding supply of Rails and Ordinary PSC line Sleepers), Electrical (General Electrification, Signalling and Telecommunication works between Sabaramati (Incl.) & Kothgangad (incl.) in Ahmedabad & Bhawnagar Divisions of Western Railway, Gujarat, India(` 301.94 crore)

·           Execution of Roadbed with earthwork and minor bridges between km.0 to km.19 and km.47 to km.97 for 76 Route km. including tie lines at both ends, laying of blanket in entire length of 104 Route km. between Budhapank to Baghuapal under Angul to Sukinda New BG Rail line in state of Odisha, India. (` 295.33 crore)

·           Package 1 - Habibganj to Barkhera against the Bid invited for "Construction of Roadbed, bridges, installation of track (excluding supply of rails & PSC sleepers), Modification to stations yards, Construction of passenger amentities, Sginalling & Telecommunication works (Indoor & outdoor), Railway Electrification and General Electrical works for third track between Habibganj to Barkhera and Budni to Itarsi (except Narmada Bedige) on Bhopal-Itarsi Section of Bhopal Division of West Central Railway, Madhya Pradesh, India" in two packages    (` 287.83 crore)

·           Package 2 - Execution of Gauge Converasion of existing Meter Gauge track between Kothgangad (Excl.)  & Botad (88.40 Kms) stations: Construction of Roadbed, Bridges, Supply of Ballast, Dismantlng of existing MG track, Installation of track (excluding supply of Rails and Ordinary PSC line Sleepers), Electrical (General Electrification), Signalling and Telecommunication works between Kothgangad (Excl.)  & Botad in Ahmedabad & Bhawnagar Divisions of Western Railway, Gujarat, India (` 283.21 crore)

·         Balance works for construction of Roadbed, Major & Minor Bridges, Track Linking (excluding supply of rails, ordinary track sleepers and thick web switches), Outdoor Signalling and Electrical (General) works in connection with Doubling of Akalkot Road- Gulbarga section (78 kms) of Hotgi Gulbarga Scction in Solapur Divison of Central Railway in the State of Maharashtra and Karnatakam India (` 238.15 crore)

·         Package 2 - Budni to Itarsi (excluding Narmada Bridges) against the bids invited for "Construction of Roadbed, bridges, installation of track (excluding supply of rails & PSC sleepers), Modification to stations yards, Construction of passenger amentities, Sginalling & Telecommunication works (Indoor & outdoor), Railway Electrification and General Electrical works for third track between Habibganj to Barkhera and Budni to Itarsi (except Narmada Bridge) on Bhopal-Itarsi Section of Bhopal Division of West Central Railway, Madhya Pradesh, India" in two packages (` 201.01 crore)

·         Package- 2 -  Aunrihar-Allahabad (Excl.) for “Railway Electrification of Aunrihar (incl.)-Varanasi-Allahabad(Excl.) Section – 25 KV OHE Works, Traction substations, General Electrification, Civil engineering works (including service buildings, Quarters and track works), Signaling and Telecommunication works in Varanasi Division of North Eastern Railway, Uttar Pradesh (` 199.84 crore)

·         Package- 1 - Chhapra (Excl.)-Aunrihar for “Railway Electrification of Chhapra (Excl.)-Ballia-Varanasi-Akllahabad (Excl) Section – 25 KV OHE Works, Traction substations, General Electrification, Civil engineering works (including service buildings, Quarters and track works), Signaling and Telecommunication works in Varanasi Division of North Eastern Railway, Uttar Pradesh, India in two packages (` 169.75 crore)

·         Design, Supply, Erection, Testing & commissioning of 25KV 50HZ Single Phase Traction Overhead Equipment, Switching Stations, Traction sub-stations, SCADA, General electrical Services works along with civil Engineering I.e. Service Buildings, quarters and other associated works between Dhuri (Excl.) - Lehramohabat (Incl.) (151RKM/264TKM) in Ambala Division of Northern Railway in the State of Punjab, India (` 155.8 crore)

·         Construction of Roadbed, Station Buildings, Passenger Amenities, Minor Bridges, General Electrical Works in connection with new BG Rail Line from Jendrapara (Incl.) Km 42.040 to KM 81.200 Package II in Khurda Road Division of East Coast Railway in the State of Odisha, India in three packages (2A, 2B & 2C) - Package 2C (Construction of Roadbed, Station Buildings, Passenger Amenities, Minor Bridges, General electrical Works in connection with new BG Rail Line from Nuagaon km 68.300 to  Paradeep km 81.200  on Khurda Road Division of East Coast Railway in the State of Odisha, Indfia" (` 142.8 crore)

·         Construction of sheds, Structurers, Water Supply Arrangements, Drainage, Road, Power Supply Arrangement, General Electrical works and supply, Erection & Commissioning of Machinery & Plant in connection with Augmentation of Production Capacity (Part II) of diesel Locomotive Works, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India. (` 137.8 crore)

·         Construction of Roadbed, Station Buildings, Passenger Amenities, Minor Bridges, General Electrical Works in connection with new BG Rail Line from Jendrapara (Incl.) Km 42.040 to KM 81.200 Package II in Khurda Road Division of East Coast Railway in the State of Odisha, India in three packages (2A, 2B & 2C) - Package 2A (Construction of Roadbed, Station Buildings, Passenger Amenities, Minor Bridges, General electrical Works in connection with new BG Rail Line from Kendrapara (Incl.) Km 42.040 to Dumuka Km 57.000 on Khurda Road Division of East Coast Railway in the State of Odisha, India" (` 137.73 crore)

·         Package 1 : Design, Supply, Erection, testing & commissioning of 25 KV, 50 HZ, Single phase, traction Over Head Equipments, Switching Stations, Traction Sub-Station, SCADA, General electrical Service works along with Civil Engineering work i.e.Service Buildings, quarters Tower  Car Sheds and other associated works between Sections Hospet (Including) - Kudatini (including) and Tornagallu (including) - Ranjitpura (including) and Siding comprising of 67 RKM/187 TKM along with Signaling & Telecommunication  works between Sections Hospet (including) - Bellary Junction (inlcuding) and Toranagallu (including) - Ranjitpura (including) of Hubli Division of Souther Western  Railway, India" (` 125.12 crore)

·         Construction of Roadbed, Station Buildings, Passenger Amenities, Minor Bridges, General Electrical Works in connection with new BG Rail Line from Jendrapara (Incl.) Km 42.040 to KM 81.200 Package II in Khurda Road Division of East Coast Railway in the State of Odisha, India in three packages (2A, 2B & 2C) - Package 2B (Construction of Roadbed, Station Buildings, Passenger Amenities, Minor Bridges, General electrical Works in connection with new BG Rail Line from Dumuka Km 57.000 to Nuagaon Km 68.300 on Khurda Road Division of East Coast Railway in the State of Odisha, India" (` 114.82 crore)

·         Construction of approach ramps including connecting road and diversion road for the re-building of existing ROB at Barddhaman, over the Barddhamn-Durgapur Railway line, connecting Kalna Link road and Katwa Road with G.T.Road in the Disitrict of Barddhaman, West Bengal, India (` 114.31 crore)

·         Design, Supply, Erection, Testing & commissioning of 25KV 50HZ Single Phase Traction Overhead Equipment, Switching Stations, Traction sub-stations, SCADA, General electrical Services works along with civil Engineering I.e. Service Buuildings, Quarters & other associated works between Section Jakhal (Excl.) - Dhuri (Incl.) - Ludhiana (Excl.) (123 RKM/178 TKM) Section in Ambala Division of Northern Railway in the State of Punjab, India (` 98.59 crore)

·         Package 2 : Design, Supply, Erection, testing & commissioning of 25 KV, 50 HZ, Single phase, High Rise Traction Over Head Equipments, Switching Stations, Traction Sub- Stations, SCADA, General electrical Services words along with Civil Engineering work i.e. Service Buildings, quarters and other associated works and Signaling & Telecommunication  works between Swarupganj (Incl..) to Palanpur (Excl.) 80 RKM/184 TKM Section in Ajmer Division of North Western Railway in the States of Rajasthan Gujarat. (` 97.32 crore)

·         Package 1: Design, Supply, Erection, testing & commissioning of 25 KV, 50 HZ, Single phase, High Rise Traction Over Head Equipments, Switching Stations, Traction Sub-Stations, SCADA, General electrical Services words along with Civil Engineering work i.e. Service Buildings, quarters and other associated works and Signaling & Telecommunication works between Rani (Excl.) 86 RKM/198 TKM Section in Ajmer Division of North Western Railway in the States of Rajasthan. (` 95.61 crore)

·          Package 2: Design, Supply, Erection, testing & commissioning of 25 KV, 50 HZ, Single phase,traction Over Head Equipments, Switching Stations, Traction Sub-Station, SCADA, General electrical Service works along with Civil Engineering work i.e. Service Buildings, quarters Tower  Car Sheds and other associated works between Sections Kudatini (including)  - Guntakal (Including) Section and Siding comprising of 71 RKM/178 TKM of Guntakal Division of South Central Railway and Hubli Division of South Western  Railway along with Signaling & Telecommunication  works between Sections Bellary Junction (including) - Guntakal (including) of Guntakal Division of South Central Railway, India" (` 92.84 crore)

·         Design, Supply, Erection, Testing & commissioning of 25KV 50HZ Single Phase Traction Overhead Equipment, Switching Stations, Traction sub-stations, SCADA, General electrical Services works along with civil Engineering I.e. Service Buildings, Quarters & other associated works and Signal and Telecommunication works between Section Jakhal (Excl.) - Hisar (Excl.) (79 RKM/92 TKM) Section in Ambala Division of Northern Railway in the State of Haryana, India (` 76.25 crore)

·         Paqckage 3: Construction of major steel girder bridges, along with foundation, substructure and related protection works on permanent diversion, strengthening of the sub structure of existing bridges along with provision of new steel plate girder, protection work, Casting of RCC Box bridges, Earth work & Blanketing on approaches, and other allied works in connection with Gauge conversion of Sabarmati-Botad Section in Bhavnagar Division of Western Railway, Gujarat, India. (` 66.36 crore)

·         Beside these works contracts, ` 86.81 crore value of FLS, DDE & PMC contracts have also been awarded during the financial year 2015-16.

3.13            Final Location Survey (FLS)

During 2015-16, 125 km of Final Location Survey (FLS) was carried out in Rishikesh- Karnaprayag New Line (125 km) project.

PROJECT PLANNING & DEVELOPMENT

A.                  PUBLIC PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP (PPP) in Indian Railway Connectivity Projects

In fulfillment of the mandate of Rail Vikas Nigam Limited (RVNL) to undertake project development, mobilization of financial resources and to implement projects pertaining to strengthening of Golden Quadrilateral and better connectivity to various ports,six Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs) as Joint Ventures (JVs)have been created. RVNL has a minimum equity participation of 26 percent in each one of these SPVs.

Through these SPVs, RVNL has been able to mobilize a cumulative investment of `6139 crore out of which ` 1824 crore is equity and ` 4315 crore is debt. The total investment of RVNL in the equity of these SPVs is` 615 crore, which is approximately 10% of their Gross total investment (refer to table below).

*Equity gap of Rs 9.89 Crore 

**Equity gap of Rs 27.50 Crore

Salient features of SPVs:

1.       Kutch Railway Company Limited (KRC)

Current Developments:

a.                   The Company is undertaking the doubling of Samakhiali - Palanpur section (248 km) to cater to      the anticipated increase in traffic flows from Mundra and Kandla ports.

Cost` 1548.66 Crore; sanctioned by Ministry of Railways

Source: Internal accruals of KRC

Progress: Contractsawarded for Packages - I & II of stretches 34.6 km & 29.48 km respectively.

b.                   Feasibility study for a 3rd line between Samakhiali - Gandhidham (53 km) section of KRC has        been completed. The project has been found bankable and will be taken up for implementation.

2.       Bharuch Dahej Railway Company Limited (BDRCL)

Current Development:

a.       Maintenance of the line had been temporarily taken over by the SPV on directives of Western Railway. The same has now been taken over by Western Railway.

3.       Krishnapatnam Railway Company Limited (KRCL)

Current Developments:

a.       Doubling of the section from Venkatachalam to Krishnapatnam was completed and opened for traffic on 2nd March 2014.

b.       For Phase II i.e. construction of new line fromObulavaripalle to Venkatachalam involving construction of a tunnel is in progress.

4.       Haridaspur Paradip Railway Company Limited (HPRCL)

Current Developments:

a.       Land has been acquired for 68 km out of the total project length of 82 km.

b.       POSCO ltd. which was one of the original equity partners in the SPV withdrew in 2015. Due to the return of its application money of ` 27.50 crore, an equity gap has arisen and the remaining partners of the SPV have been requested to fill up the same. 

c.       Physical and Financial progress for the project are 53% and 52.28% respectively.

5.       Angul Sukinda Railway Limited (ASRL)

Current Development:

a.       CONCOR has joined as a new equity partner in the project contributing `156 crore (26%) equity.

6.       Dighi Roha Rail Limited (DRRL)

Current Development:

a.       The Company’s Authorized Capital has been increased to` 78.69 crore.

b.       Share Holder’s Agreement is under finalization.

7.       New SPV under formation

a.       Rail connectivity to REWAS Port in Maharashtra

The bankability report of Rewas Port was submitted by RVNL to Railway Board in the financial year 2014-15. Subsequently Railway Board has given its approval for implementation ofthe project through JV route. Formation of the SPV is under process.

Strategic Partnership with Ministry of Shipping for development of rail connectivity and railinfrastructure of Ports

Formation of Indian Port Rail Corporation Limited (IPRCL):RVNL has decided to participate in an SPV formed by Ministry of Shipping with the mandate of taking up projects for strengthening of rail evacuation network and the last mile connectivity to the ports.

Salient features:

·         Initial Authorised Capital of IPRCL is ` 500 crore. Initial subscribed capital is ` 100 crore.

·         The stakeholders are 12 Major Ports and RVNL.

·         RVNL’s equity participation is limited to Rs 10 crore only i.e. 10% of the initial subscribed share capital.

·         Mandate of SPV: to undertake maintenance, up gradation and modernisation of the Port Railways and also provide capacity augmentation wherever required.

Current Development:

·         Work for undertaking Consultancy Services for preparation of Detailed Project Reports and Project Management of some of the projects have been awarded to RVNL by Ministry of Shipping.

·         All Detailed Project Reports viz. forNew Mangalore Port Trust, Kandla Port Trust & Haldia Dock Complex have been submitted to Managing Director / IPRCL within the target time by RVNL. 

B.                 Bankability studies

During 2015-16, Bankability reports for the following projects, which were assigned to RVNL, have been completed and submitted to Ministry of Railways for taking further action:

(i)       Rail connectivity to Cement plants from Sanjamala station on South Central Railway: The Ministry of Railways has sanctioned the project which is to be developed under the Joint Venture model of Participative Policy of Indian Railways, 2012.

(ii)   Following Bankability studies are in Progress:

(a)       Rail Connectivity to Karaikal Port in Southern Railway

(b)       Milavittan to Melamarudur BG Line in Southern Railway

(c)       Cumbum to Proddatur BG Line in South Central Railway

SUBSIDIARY:

High Speed Rail Corporation of India Limited (HSRC)

High Speed Rail Corporation of India Ltd. (HSRC) has been formed as a wholly owned subsidiary of Rail Vikas Nigam Ltd. (RVNL), with the approval of President of India, to develop High Speed Rail (HSRC) Corridors in India to run passenger trains at speed of upto 350 km per hour.The details of Corporation and Projects being undertaken by HSRC may be seen in the Directors Report included as Part ‘I’ of the Report.

PERSONNEL DEVELOPMENT:

Long-term success of the business can only be achieved by an organization that recognizes its human resources as part of the process of wealth creation and as a source of competitive advantage. Acquiring talented and experienced manpower, developing and retaining them have been the key focus area of HR for achieving the corporate objectives. RVNL envisages a lean organization with need-based deployment of staff. The manpower requirement is largely met through deputation of employees from Railways and other Government Departments/PSUs, besides keeping a small but effective cadre of its own. The RVNL cadre is also made up of largely ex-railway servants who have been permanently absorbed. As on 31-3-2016, the on-roll strength of RVNL stood at 121 regular employees and 325 deputationists.

The main thrust of the HR policy is to ensure that the manpower resource is able to adapt to the changing business priorities and to play a role as a strategic business partner in the growth of the organization. This has been made possible by meticulous selection of employees with relevant experience and capabilities and further development through intensive training programmes. As a part of this philosophy, employees have been nominated to various training programmes and seminars not only relevant to their job requirements but also to enhance their overall capabilities. During the year 2015-16, 583 mandays of trainings in Project Management, Tunnelling, Quality Control and Quality Assurances, Contract Management, Railway Electrification, Concrete Technology, Building Competency in CSR, etc. were imparted to the employees at various levels.  Out of total training mandays of 583, senior management i.e. DGM and above level has been imparted training for 349 mandays and below DGM staff for 234 mandays.

RVNL recognizes the services of meritorious employees through individual/ group awards by presenting shields and cash awards on the occasion of Annual Foundation Day celebrations held on 9th April 2016. Besides awarding twenty-one meritorious employees, eight shields were presented by Member Engineering, Railway Board to the following Project Implementation Units for their excellent performance:

1.       Best PIU (Winner)          -   PIU, Chennai

2.       Best PIU (Runner up)                 -   PIU, Jodhpur

3.       Best Project                              -   Hospect-Tinaighat (PIU, Hubli)

4.       Maximum Turnover                                -   PIU, Chennai

5.       Best PIU for commissioning      -   PIU (Line), Kolkata

Projects

6.       Best Innovative Project              -  Barddhaman Cable Stayed Bridge

                                                   (PIU, Majerhat)          

7.       Best PIU in RE project               -   PIU, Secunderabad

8.       Best PIU in Signalling Work        -   PIU, Bhopal

As a welfare measure, the Company provides free consultation services of doctors in Allopathy and Homeopathy systems of treatment in the Corporate Office premises to cater to the medical needs of the employees and their families.

The employees of the Company conducted Swacch Bharat Abhiyaan engaging themselves   in the cleaning   of office premises.   International Yoga Day was also observed on 21st June,2015 and motivated employees to practice Yoga for leading a healthy life.

Industrial Relations:

Cordial industrial relations have been maintained throughout the year without any untowards incident.

Disclosure under the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition & Redressal) Act, 2013

 The RVNL Conduct Discipline rulesare in line with the requirements of the Sexual Harassment of Women at the Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition & Redressal) Act, 2013. An Internal Complaints Committee called “Vishaka Committee” has been set up in RVNL to redress complaints received regarding sexual harassment. All employees are covered under this policy.

The following is a summary of sexual harassment complaints received and disposed off during the calendar year.

Number of Complaints received:  NIL

Number of Compaints disposed off: NIL

The Right to Information Act

The provisions of the Right to Information Act are followed meticulously in letter and spirit and timely responses are given to all queries. The Company has nominated an Appellate Authority, Central Public Information Officer and Asstt. Public Information Officer at the Corporate Office and Asstt. Public Information Officers for each PIU.  During the year 2015-16, 28 applications were received and disposed off on time.

Rajbhasha (Official Language)

The company has been making concerted efforts in implementing the directives of the Government of India on use of Rajbhasha (Official Language). The Rajbhasha Department of the Company has a part-time Mukhya and Up-mukhya Rajbhasha Adhikari and a regular Manager (Rajbhasha). The website of the company is bilingual and is updated frequently. All the computers in the Corporate Office have been provided with Unicode compliant software and fonts to facilitate access to common templates in Devnagari. To encourage use of Rajbhasha, officials who are using Rajbhasha in drafting notes and letters were identified and given cash awards.  A Hindi essay writing competition, Hindi noting and drafting competition, Hindi Shabd Gyan Competition and Shankar Dayal Singh Smriti Puraskar competitions were held on the occasion of Hindi Divas Pakhwara in the month of September, 2015 and cash awards totalling to ` 60,200/-  have been distributed to 31 successful participants.  The Company has set up a reading room-cum-library in the corporate office with a large collection of books, newspapers and periodicals in Hindi. During the year 2015-16, four meetings of Rajabhasha Implementation Committee of RVNL with the representatives of Railway Board’s Rajbhasha Directorate, have been held.  The Committee of Parliament on Official Language inspected the use of Rajbhasha in official working in RVNL on 29.05.2015 and expressed their satisfaction. The assurances to the various observations of the committee have also been duly complied with. Two officers RVNL’s Secunderabad Unit participated in the Rajbhasha Conference held in the month of November, 2015 at Vishakhapatnam organised by Viswamukti.

Presidential Directive

The Company did not receive any Presidential Directive from Ministry of Railways during 2015-16.

4.                   VIGILANCE

The Vigilance department in RVNL is manned by a Chief Vigilance Officer, one GM/Vigilance (Part time), two DGMs/Vigilance and one Sr. Manager/Vigilance (temporary).

RVNL Vigilance functions with a principal focus on aiding management in bringing about system improvements, as needed, for strengthening transparency and accountability. For this purpose, Action Plan 2015-16 was approved incorporating a preventive approach for performing vigilance checks of ongoing works and miscellaneous establishment matters to address compliance issues and system corrections, if required.

Inspections in brief:

During 2015-16, intensive scrutiny of four selected projects under execution by Project Implementation Units was conducted to evaluate the entire process of contract management with specific focus on tendering and compliance with works standards, specifications and quality control as per contractual provisions and corporate policies. In addition, two preventive checks were also conducted, on a case basis, on tendering and procurement of specific items during project execution. Preventive check on rotational transfer of RVNL personnel was also conducted to assess compliance with stated corporate policy.

Some major system improvementseffected during 2015-16 covered the following areas: -

·         Frequency of checks of attendance of PMC personnel by RVNL officials.

·         Amendment of parameters for testing of water for washing of aggregates and for mixing and curing concrete, in conformity with IS Code.

·         Amendment of SOP Para-8 w.r.t. requirement of finance concurrence in quotation based contracts.

·         Amendment of SBD w.r.t. Contractors’ All Risk policy – 100% CAR policy for single and multiple packages.

·         Procedure for Measurement and Payments – Provision for minimum 1% spot checks by RVNL officials.

·         Certification of authenticity of CV of personnel proposed to be deployed by PMC.

·         Quotation based contracts.

Besides, institution of corrective measures, an amount of ` 87,554/- was recovered from the contractors for deficiencies in performance.

Compliance of MSME Policy in RVNL:

Vigilance Department had taken up the issue of compliance of Public Procurement Policy under MSME with RVNL Management since the year 2015, when procurement of certain percentage of the total purchases of products and services rendered by Micro and Small Enterprises (MSEs) became mandatory from 01.04.2015 in terms of the MSME Policy 2012. During discussion with RVNL Management it was explained that RVNL has a limited role in procurement of materials as the projects assigned to RVNL are being executed through large value composite contracts, involving both procurement of materials and execution, which are awarded through an open tendering process. However, RVNL has incorporated certain clauses in the bid document for service contracts to allow benefits to Micro and Small Enterprises as per MSME guidelines such as waiver of tender document costs and deposit of earnest money etc. wherever applicable.

In addition, with regard to minor procurements for office use, suppilies are being sourced through DGS&D/Kendriya Bhandar etc.

Investigation:

The complaints received by Vigilance from time to time were dealt with as per prescribed procedure and surprise checks done as deemed fit. The verifiable facts, if any, raised in the complaints were investigated and surprise checks done, as deemed fit. During the year, five complaints were taken up for investigation.

These included one complaint regarding fraudulent withdrawal of Dearness Relief on Pension by absorbed personnel in RVNL whereby the relevant documents in respect of all absorbed personnel were called for. Available records of 21 cases revealed that in eight cases, there was no drawal of Dearness Relief on pension and in another five cases, dearness relief was being drawn as per extant instructions.  In the remaining eight cases, the officials requested their Pension Disbursing Authorities to discontinue Dearness Relief on pension and recover the excess so drawn. As such, an amount of ` 23,99,941/- has since been recovered by the Pension Disbursing Authorities from four officials of RVNL.

Disciplinary Action:

During the year 2015-16, one Administrative Action case and two minor penalty cases were concluded.

Periodic reports to CVC/ Railway Board:

The status of pendency of various matters namely inspections, complaints, disciplinary cases and miscellaneous matters was regularly apprised to CVC/Railway Board through periodic monthly, quarterly and annual reports. Half-yearly reports for the period April-September 2015 and October 2015-March 2016 on work status of Vigilance Wing were submitted to Board of Directors during Board meetings for review.

Vigilance Awareness Week:

The Vigilance Awareness Week was celebrated in RVNL offices across the country with focus on the theme – “Preventive vigilance is a tool of good governance” from 26thto 31st October 2015.On the occasion, an interactive session among the officers of RVNL Corporate office was organized on 26th October 2015 during which two presentations – (i) Precautions to be taken in execution of Electrical Works and (ii) Irregularities being observed during Vigilance Checks – were made and the tenth issue of RVNL Vigilance Bulletin incorporating contributions from officers of RVNL released.

For raising wider awareness among the youth, a Poster Making Competition under the aegis of Central Vigilance Commission, was organized among students of Class-IX to Class-XII in Delhi and NCR in the premises of Corporate Office of RVNL. Some eighty students from 22 schools participated in the competition. Twelve chosen entries depicting importance of ethics and integrity in everyday life were incorporated in Desk Calendar 2016 and widely distributed to CVC, Railway Board, Officers and staff of RVNL and its subsidiaries. In addition, a discussion on ‘Preventive vigilance to ensure proper utilization of aid for development in the North-east’ was organized in Kirori Mal College, University of Delhi, Delhi.

5.                   MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING

The Company secured “Excellent” rating by Department of Public Enterprises for the year 2014-15 on the basis of the Memorandum of Understanding signed between RVNL and Ministry of Railways and achievement of the committed targets. This is the fifth consecutive year for which the Company has been rated as “Excellent”.

 In 2015-16, the Company has been able to achieve the targets set in the MoU and even surpassed them.  RVNL completed Doubling of 280.47 km against an “Excellent” target of 279 km under project implementation and 72.12 km against a target of 71.2 km under time line completion of projects. Completion of 328.07 km Railway Electrification was achieved against an excellent target of 325 km. Completion of 17 km of New Line was also achieved. The Company was also able to meet the targets for all financial, enterprise specific, sectors specific parameters set in the MoU for 2015-16. Accordingly, the Company is expecting to achieve an “Excellent” rating for 2015-16 as well.

6.                  PARTICULARS RELATING TO CONSERVATION OF ENERGY, TECHNOLOGY ABSORPTION AND FOREIGN EXCHANGE EARNINGS AND OUTGO ETC.

Conservation of Energy and Technology Absorption

RVNL is conscious of the limited nature of conventional sources and the importance of using our energy resources wisely. Initiatives taken to create awareness on conservation of energy among employees has resulted in a steady reduction in energy consumption at Corporate Office. In addition, various state of the art systems have been installed and environment friendly technology has been adopted in the Corporate Office building.

Environment friendly equipments like solar heaters, solar lights etc are being installed in project offices of the Company.

Implementation of an Integrated IT Solution for RVNL

RVNL is undertaking implementation of an Integrated IT Solution for Corporate Office as well as all the Project Implementing Units. The proposed solution will cover computerization of all the core business processes including project planning, e- tendering, monitoring of project execution, associated finance functions and personnel management etc. In this regard, M/s Accenture have been appointed as Consultants for the system, and the main solution is being developed and implemented by M/s L&T Infotech Ltd. During 2015-16, the System Integrator completed implementation of HR –Payroll module of all RVNL employees in Quality Server as on 31st January, 2016, and salary slips are now being generated through the system.

RVNL portal has been implemented on Quality Server with effect from 10th February, 2016. The functionality of the Portal is under review and improvement.

Foreign Exchange Earnings and Outgo

During the financial year 2015-16, the Company spent ` 40.71lakh in foreign exchange on foreign travel of Company’s officials etc.&` 4.19 crore on Project Management Consultancy. The Company, however, did not earn any Foreign Exchange.

7.         RISK MANAGEMENT

RVNL has a formal Risk Management Policy duly approved by the Board of Directors.  The Policy aims to review the exposure of RVNL to various risks and the mitigation measures to be taken periodically.  It also strives to increase awareness among its employees and other stakeholders about possible risks and measures to control the same.

The Company has a Risk Management Committee under the chairmanship of Director (Operations) with ED (Projects), ED (HR), GM (Business Developments) and GM (Finance) as members. 

The committee deliberated on the key challenges/critical area of potential risk to the company in the light of increase in fund allotments to RVNL and transfer of additional projects to RVNL recently.  Committee identified the following major challenges/risk to the company:

a)                   Requirement of additional manpower for new projects

b)                   Retention of skilled, trained and experienced manpower.

To overcome the same, Committee recommended that terms and conditions of deputationists be made attractive to get the required additional manpower.  Similarly, care needs to be taken of existing RVNL employees by effective Employee Grievance Redressal and providing incentives to work in difficult areas to keep them motivated to continue to perform in difficult circumstances.

A professional firm engaged for preparing a detailed document on Enterprise Risk Assessment and Management in RVNL, submitted the final report and the same was putup for approval of Board after recommendation of the Risk Management Committee.  The report has been approved by the Board in its 77th Board meeting held on 24th May, 2016.  The report has idendtified 16 risks at Corporate level and 13risks at PIU level.  The report also contains compliance checklist regarding Corporate laws, Labour laws, Enviornment laws, Finance and Taxation laws and other laws for guidance of RVNL officials.

8.                  CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY (CSR)

The Corporate Social Responsibility Committee comprises of Mrs. Gita Mishra, Director (Personnel), Mr. Vijay Anand, Director (Projects), Mr. Ashok K. Ganju, Director (Finance) and Mr. Shiv Kumar Gupta, Part time (Non-Official) Director.The Committee has formulated and recommended a Corporate Social Responsibility policy (CSR policy) to the Board for approval indicating the natureof activities to be undertaken by the Company and process for implementation of the same.

The key philosophy of CSR and Sustainability, as enshrined in the policy, is to meet the following broad objectives:

1.       Implementation in project/programme mode

2.       Focus on periphery of project areas of RVNL

3.       Thrust areas of education and healthcare

4.       Inclusive growth of society with emphasis on development of weaker sections of society and in the backward districts of the country

During 2015-16, the Company has spent `5.94 crore (around 2.98% of the average net profit of last three financial years) on CSR initiatives.

The CSR policy may be accessed on the Company’s website at the link http://www.rvnl.org/admin/uploaded1/leftdocument/20141117161351_CSR%20Policy%20Oct%202014.pdf.

A report on CSR activities is annexed as Annexure- C.

9.             RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT

(a)         A project of Bridge Instrumentation System Design for bridges of various Spans and Age was assigned to RVNL vide Railway Board letter No.2014/PL/44/11 dated 27.4.2015.  RVNL worked on the project by engaging Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur, Department of Civil Engineering.  The final report on the project has been submitted to Railway Board on 30.3.2016.

(b)    An expenditure of` 81.78 Lakhs has been incurred during the year 2015-16.

DIRECTORS’ RESPONSIBILITY STATEMENT

Pursuant to Section 134(5) of the Companies Act, 2013, Directors confirm that - 

a)       in the preparation of the Annual Accounts, the applicable accounting standards had been followed along with proper explanation relating to material departures;

b)       the Directors haveselected such accounting policies and applied them consistently and made judgments and estimates that are reasonable and prudent so as to give a true and fair view of the state of

c)       affairs of the Company at the end of the financial year and of the profit of the Company for that period;

d)       the Directors had taken proper and sufficient care for the maintenance of adequate accounting records in accordance with the provisions of this Act for safeguarding the assets of the Company and for preventing and detecting fraud and other irregularities;

e)       the Directors had prepared the annual accounts on a going concern basis.

f)        the Directors had devised proper systems to ensure compliance with the provisions of all applicable laws and that such systems were adequate and operating effectively.

10.                    DIRECTORS AND KEY MANAGERIAL PERSONNELS

At the beginning of the year (1.4.2015), there was only one Independent Director, Mr. R.S. Sharma on the Board of the Company.Mr. R.S. Sharma completed his tenure of 3 years as Independent Director on the Board of RVNL on 10.6.2015.

Mr. Anjum Pervez, ED (Project Monitoring)/ Railway Board was appointed as Part-Time Official Director vice Mr. V.P. Dudeja, ED (Works)/ Railway Board by the Ministry of Railways on 28.08.2015. 

On the date of report, the strength of the Board of Directors of the Company is nine Directors out of the approved strength of 11 Directors comprising of five functional Directors including Chairman and Managing Director and two part-time official Directors and two part- time (non-official) Directors.  Two positions of part-time (non-official) Directors are still vacant.

The following Directors are holding office as on the date of the report: -

1.         Mr. S.C.  Agnihotri                                 --          from 27.1.2010 as Managing Director and

            Chairman and Managing Director                        from  5.3.2013 onwards as CMD

                                                                                    [Extended  upto 31.8.2018]

2.         Mrs. Gita Mishra                                    --          from 13.10.2008 onwards

            Director (Personnel)                                           [Extended  upto 12.10.2018]

3.         Mr.  Mukul Jain                                      --          from 16.6.2010 onwards

            Director (Operations)                                          [Extended upto 31.12.2016]

4.         Mr.  Vijay Anand                                    --          from 9.4.2011 onwards

            Director (Projects)                                                  [Extended upto 08.04.2018]

5.         Mr. Ashok K. Ganju,                              --          from 12.9.2011 onwards

            Director (Finance)                                                 [Extended upto 31.10.2017]

6.         Mr. Anjum Pervez,                                 --          from 28.8.2015 onwards

            ED (Project Monitoring)/ Railway Board,

            Part- time (official)                                            

            Director

7.         Mr. K.K. Aggarwal,                               

            ED (WP)/Railway Board,                                    --          from 22.1.2014 onwards

            Part-time (official)

            Director

8.                      Mr. Vinayak B. Karanjikar                        --          from 01.04.2016 onwards

9.                      Mr. Shiv Kumar Gupta                            --           from 01.04.2016 onwards 

The Company had received declarations from the Independent Directors confirming that they meet the criteria of independence as prescribed under the Companies Act, 2013.

Woman Director

In terms of the provisions of Section 149 of the Companies Act, 2013 read with the Companies (Appointment and Qualification of Directors) Rules, 2014, a Company shall have at least one Woman Director on the Board of the Company. Your Company has Mrs. Gita Mishra as Director (Personnel) on the Board of the Company since October 2008.

Appointment/Resignations of Key Managerial Personnels

Mr. S.C. Agnihotri, Chairman & Managing Director, Mr. Ashok K.Ganju, Director (Finance) & CFO and Mrs. Kalpana Dubey, Company Secretary are Key Managerial Personnel(KMP) as per the provisons of the Companies Act,2013.

None of the KMP has resigned or been appointed during the year under review.

Annual evaluation by the Board of its own performance and that of its Committees and Individual Directors

RVNL being a Government Company is exempted vide notification No.F.No.1/2/2014-CL.V dated 5.6.2015 issued by Ministry of Corporate Affairs, to comply with the provisions of Sec 134(3)(p) with respect to Annual evaluation by the Board of its own performance and that of its Committees and Individual Directors. In case of RVNL, the performance evaluation of Directors is done by the Ministry of Railways.

Number of Meetings of the Board

The Board of Directors met six times during the Financial Year 2015-16 on:

9th June, 2015, 11th August,2015, 31st August, 2015, 6th November, 2015, 3rd February, 2016 and 17th March, 2016.

Audit Committee

The Audit Committee as on the date of the report comprises of Mr. Shiv Kumar Gupta, Part time (Non-Official) Director, Mr. Vinayak B. Karanjikar, Part time (Non-Official) Director and Mr. K.K. Aggarwal, Part time Official Director. All recommendations made by the Audit Committee were accepted by the Board.

11.               AUDITORS

a)         Statutory Auditor

The Comptroller & Auditor General of India has appointed M/s Kumar Chopra & Associates Chartered Accountants as Statutory Auditors of the Company for the year ended 31st March, 2016. The Board would like to thank them for their valuable support and guidance during the audit of accounts under review.

b)        Secretarial Auditor

The Board of Directors has appointed M/s P.C Jain & Associates (practicing Company Secretary) to conduct Secretarial Audit for financial year 2015-16.

The Secretarial Auditor had observed that the Company does not have adequate number of Independent Directors on Board.  Yours Directors statethat your company being a government company, the appointment of all directors on the board made by government of India through the Ministry of Railways and the company has no role in the appointment of Directors.  The Company has been following up with the Ministry for appointment of Independent Directors.

12.               COMMENTS OF COMPTROLLER & AUDITOR GENERAL (C&AG) OF INDIA 

The Comptroller & Auditor General of India has undertaken supplementary audit on the accounts of the Company for the year ended 31stMarch, 2016 under Section 139(5) of the Companies Act, 2013. The comments of the C & AG on the Annual Accounts of the Company for the year ended 31stMarch, 2016 shall also form part of this report.

13.                    ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We take this opportunity to gratefully acknowledgethe cooperation, guidance and support received from Ministry of Railways (MoR), Ministry of Finance, Department of Public Enterprises, various banks, Asian Development Bank, the Zonal Railways, IRFC, RITES, IRCON, RLDA and our equity partners in Joint Venture SPVs for their continued interest and support to the Company. The Directors would like to express their thanks for the devotion, commitment and dedication of each and every employee of the Company due to which your Company could face the new challenges and opportunities and create a niche for itself as a major provider of rail infrastructure in the country. The Directors also place on record their appreciation to the officials of Comptroller & Auditor General of India for their guidance during the year under review.  Last but not the least, the Directors would like to express their deep appreciation and gratitude towards all their predecessors who have been associated with RVNL, for their invaluable contribution to the growth and development of the Company in attainment of the Company’s aims and goals in all spheres.

For and on behalf of Board of Directors

New Delhi

Dt:31.8.2016

Annexure A

MANAGEMENT DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS REPORT

Industry Structure and Development:

Indian Railways, being the life line of the nation, has an extremely critical role to ensure the sustainable economic development of the country. 

The growth of Indian Railways network since 1950-51 has not been able to keep pace with the increased demand for freight and passenger traffic. This has resulted in a large scale congestion on the system.  The sluggish pace of network expansion and modernization is a manifestation of significant under-investment which has resulted in sharp decline of the rail share of the overall freight and passenger traffic of the country. Thus there is an acute need for infusing efficiency in operations of Indian Railways by means of removing capacity bottlenecks.  At the same time there is a need to build new infrastructure to link unconnected parts of the country to the Railway network.

During presentation of the Railway Budget for 2015-16 Shri Suresh Prabhu, Hon’ble Minister for Railways, emphasized the need to ramp up capital expenditure (CAPEX) to remove the huge backlog of the past projects as well as to provide for the current and future needs of the organisation. This trend has been continued for 2016-17 and CAPEX has been targetted at `1.21 lakh crore, which is a quantum jump over the average annual capital expenditure of `48,100 crore over the period 2009-14. The focus is also on implementation of infrastructure investment models through joint ventures with states and by developing new frameworks for PPP.  As a preliminary initiative the Ministry of Railways (MoR) has entered in a MoU with Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) for leveraging `1.5 lakh crore of investment during the next 5 years.

Role of Rail Vikas Nigam Limited:

RVNL was formed in 2002 as a result of an initiative called National Rail Vikas Yojana (NRVY) for the creation and augmentation of rail infrastructure.  Accordingly, it has played a significant role in the raising of funds for project implementation through the SPV route. RVNL has established six SPVs for the implementation of projects, mainly related to providing port connectivity, which have generated substantial revenues with only a limited contribution of equity by Indian Railways/RVNL. However, the company’s role in raising Extra Budgetary Resources (EBR) from market borrowings has been limited to projects financed by IRFC, as decided by the Ministry of Railways. With the policy thrust of the Ministry for a major investment in rail infrastructure and fast track implementation of projects, RVNL anticipates that it will have a major role to play as per its original mandate in the leveraging of EBR for development of the rail network of the country.  

RVNL functions as an executing arm of Indian Railways and works for and on behalf of the Ministry for projects assigned to it for execution. RVNL works on a turnkey basis and undertakes the full cycle of project development from concept to commissioning. Over the years, RVNL has successfully established its credentials for fast track delivery of Railway infrastructure projects. Initially RVNL had started with the execution of doubling, gauge conversion, new lines and Railway electrification projects. Having established itself in the area of execution of conventional type of projects, the Company has now diversified and is executing projects of varied types including construction of Metro lines and workshops.  RVNL has also been assigned the execution of the technically challenging Rishikesh Karanprayag new line in Himalayas. The alignment has been finalised after detailed geo-technical and other studies. Recently another challenging project in Himachal Pradesh, namely Bhanupalli- Bilaspur new line, has also been assigned to RVNL for execution. RVNL is also emerging as a major provider in increasing the Railway Electrification network.

RVNL has also recognised the vast potential for building a High Speed Rail Network in the country and with the approval of President of India has formed High Speed Rail Corporation of India Ltd. (HSRC), as its subsidiary. It has been mandated to carry out feasibility studies for the Diamond Quadrilateral of high speed rail corridors across the country and Delhi-Chandigarh-Amritsar corridor. Accordingly, the feasibility studies for Delhi-Kolkata, Delhi-Mumbai, Mumbai-Chennai, Mumbai-Kolkata (upto Nagpur in 1st Phase), Delhi-Chennai and Delhi-Chandigarh-Amritsar are currently in progress.

Further, HSRC has also been entrusted with the work of conducting feasibility studies for upgradation of the existing track in the Chennai-Bengaluru-Mysore Section, to raise its maximum permissible speed for passenger trains.  HSRC was also the project coordinator for raising the speed on New-Delhi Agra, New Delhi-Kanpur and New Delhi-Chandigarh sections upto 160 kmph. The work of New Delhi-Agra section has already been completed and a train running with maximum permissible speed of 160 kmph has been inaugurated.

Strengths/Weaknesses / Opportunities/Threats

Strengths

•      RVNL has successfully mobilized funds for the construction of new lines by creating project specific SPVs with strategic stakeholders. Its large capital base can be leveraged to raise funds as per its original mandate.

•      Ministry of Railways has delegated the authority to RVNL for sanctioning of estimates within prescribed limits and for awarding contracts of any value enabling RVNL to implement projects faster.

•      As RVNL can award large value contracts, it has been able to attract the best infrastructure companies in India.

•      It has developed expertise in undertaking all stages of project development - from concept to commissioning.

•      RVNL has developed the requisite skills and experience to follow ADB procedures for contracting and ensure Resettlement and Rehabilitation of Project Affected Persons to implement socio-economic safeguards.

•      It has introduced large-scale mechanisation in all aspects of construction to achieve high quality output.

•      It has refined its tendering processes and introduced innovative concepts like multi-package tenders resulting in faster decision making and savings in overall costs

•      It has a sound and robust financial management system, allowing for effective monitoring and control of expenditure.

Weaknesses

•      RVNL is dependent on the Ministry of Railways for funding of projects which may prove detrimental for the future growth of the Company and for timely implementation of projects.

•      RVNL has not been notified as a Zonal Railway and accordingly does not have the authority to approve drawings, designs etc.

•      The progress of projects often gets impaired on account of delays in securing the necessary approvals for plans, granting of traffic blocks, etc. from Zonal Railways.

•      Changes in approved plans by the Railways, during execution of projects, results in delays.

•      RVNL has to depend on Railways for traffic blocks for execution of projects which causes delays.

•      RVNL does not have the freedom to plan execution of projects and has to follow priorities set by Railways.

•      RVNL is dependent on Ministry of Railways for approval of projects to be taken up through SPV route and for the terms of the Concession Agreement.

Opportunities

•      With the work of execution of Kolkata Metro projects, RVNL has developed expertise for implementation of metro projects in other cities across the country.

•      RVNL has successfully constructed major workshops for Indian Railways in fast track mode. RVNL can thus undertake implementation of large buildings, factories, townships etc. for other agencies as well.

•      With RVNL’s growth as a major provider of a variety of rail infrastructure, there is an opportunity of securing rail infrastructure projects overseas.

•      RVNL can play a significant role in raising extra-budgetary resources for project execution as this is a specific mandate of the company and has experience of implementation of projects in PPP mode.

•      RVNL is implementing Rishikesh – Karnaprayag project in the Himalayan region and can also take up more such projects in hilly terrain.

•      RVNL has formed a subsidiary company for the development and implementation of High Speed Rail projects - High Speed Rail Corporation of India Ltd. which can provide opportunities for:

--      Implementation of High Speed Corridors in the country

--      Upgradation of some routes for semi high speed operation as planned by MoR, e.g.           Chennai -Bengaluru -Mysore (130 km) etc.

Threats

•      The shortage of technical manpower, with required experience in the rail sector, is a major constraint in the delivery of projects. 

•      A large percentage of RVNL is largely dependent on deputationists from Indian Railways. Any adverse policy decision may result in railway officers not being available for deputation.

•      Land acquisition issues require to be resolved expeditiously so that the progress of projects is not hampered.

•      Delays in clearances for project execution such as tree-cutting, removal of utilities from the construction of viaducts for metro rail projects etc.

•      A number of projects are being executed along existing running lines, which makes safety a serious challenge.

•      Projects are adversely affected due to poor law and order conditions such as those in Left Wing Extremists affected districts.

Industrial Relations

Industrial Relations remained harmonious and cordial.

Strategies

The Company is taking measures for ensuring cost control and timely delivery of projects, without any compromise on quality for the execution and delivery of rail infrastructure projects on a fast track basis.  RVNL can play a significant role in Ministry of Railways efforts of raising extra-budgetary resources for project implementation, especially through the SPV route. Innovative models for project financing will also have to be explored.  RVNL has also requested Ministry of Railways that it may be permitted to leverage its equity base to raise funds from the market as per its mandate. 

RVNL has created a permanent cadre through absorption to provide institutional continuity and to reduce the dependence on seeking officers and staff on deputation from Railways.  Most of the workforce consists of qualified technical staff with experience in Railways and/or its PSUs.  Wherever required, RVNL has also recruited specialists to provide expert guidance in its project implementation.

A comprehensive and appropriate training programme is being implemented to develop competent, suitably skilled and qualified manpower.  Efforts are also being made to transfer skills and best practices from other infrastructure sectors and acquiring skills related to execution of Railway projects.

The Mission, Vision and Objectives of the Company as per the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) are mentioned below:

Mission

To create state of the art Rail transport infrastructure to meet the growing demand.

Vision

To emerge as the most efficient provider of Rail infrastructure, with a sound financial base and global construction practices, for timely completion of projects.

Objectives

·         To undertake and execute successfully project development, financing and implementation of projects relating to infrastructure, especially Rail infrastructure

·         To mobilize financial and human resources for project implementation;

·         Timely execution of projects with least cost escalation;

·         To maintain a cost effective organizational set up;

·         To encourage public private participation in Rail related projects managed by RVNL;

·         To be an infrastructure Project Execution Company committed to sustainable development and environment friendly construction practices of Rail related projects in the country;

·         To acquire, purchase, license, concession or assign Rail infrastructure assets including contractual rights and obligation with the approval of MoR whenever required.

Outlook

As per the MoU between RVNL and Ministry of Railways for the year 2016-17, RVNL has been assigned a target to achieve 410 km of Doubling/third line and 375 km of Railway Electrification in comparison with 261 km and 210 km respectively in the previous the year.

Concerns

Over the past few years RVNL has been augmenting its organisational capacity for project implementation and achieved a turnover of `4541 crore in 2015-16.  The Company is in a position to further increase the turnover, which however, will be dependent on the continued availability of assured funding from the Ministry or directions with regard to raising of Extra Budgetary Resources.  In the long term, as project development requires a lead time of approximately 18 months, the Ministry will have to consider the regular assigning of additional projects to RVNL for execution so that the momentum of growth can be sustained. 

Delays in land acquisition, finalization of plans by users, timely clearance of permissions from other government departments (mainly Ministry of Environment and Forests), law and order problems, and the continued support from Ministry of Railways are main concern areas in project execution.  The capacity constraints of agencies capable of delivery of large value rail infrastructure projects will also have to be addressed to ensure the successful and timely completion of projects.

Internal Control Systems

Effective internal control systems have been put in place for monitoring the implementation of projects including periodic reviews of the physical and financial progress, evaluation of efficiency of cost control measures based on inputs of both the Technical and Finance Departments.

Reviews of the progress and nature of expenditure is regularly conducted by the Finance and Accounts Department and reports thereon are submitted to Management.  Budgetary reviews are also conducted.

The Company has laid down and developed a framework of internal financial controls, with reference to financial statements and reporting and such controls are adequate and operating effectively.  A system of internal audit by an external firm ensures the efficacy of control systems and also submission of comments on the appropriateness of incurrence of expenditure, and their accountal by the Company.  The reports of the internal auditor are periodically reviewed by Audit Committee of the Board of Directors and implementation of recommendations are monitored. The Annual Accounts of the Company are also subject to scrutiny by the Statutory Auditor appointed by CAG and Audit by CAG.

Human Resource Development and Industrial Relations

Rail Vikas Nigam Limited endeavors at enhancing the capabilities of the organization in acquiring, developing, motivating and retaining its human resources in an environment in which team work and cooperation among employees contributes to the growth and wellbeing of individual employees as well as the organization as a whole. Emphasis is laid on employees maintaining work life balance.

To strengthen its position, the Company has formed a nucleus of its own permanent cadre through an Absorption Policy along with a Recruitment & Promotion Policy as approved by the Board of Directors of RVNL.

Cautionary Statement

Statements in the Management Discussion and Analysis Report describing the Company’s strengths, strategies, projection and estimates are forward looking statements and progressive within the meaning of applicable laws and regulations.  Actual results may vary from those expressed or implied, depending upon economic conditions, government policies and other incidental factors.  Readers are cautioned and not to place undue reliance on the forward looking statements.

Annexure ”B”

REPORT ON CORPORATE GOVERNANCE

1. COMPANY’S PHILOSOPHY ON CORPORATE GOVERNANCE& KEY VALUES

At RVNL, Corporate Governance is not solely restricted to regulatory or structural remedies.  In your Company, it is a culture, which is based on trusteeship, transparency, empowerment, accountability and corporate ethics. 

Your Company has always shown commitment towards its Code of Corporate Governance, which is, “To act in accordance with the highest standards of professional integrity, honesty, ethical conduct and to be proficient, professional and profitable by upholding and promoting transparency and accountability.”

RVNL has taken initiatives to strengthen the Corporate Governance framework internally by implementing policies viz., Code of Conduct for Board members and Senior Management and Whistle Blower Policy.  To attain the set goals and targets, your Company has been guided by the following key values: 

·        Zeal to attain excellence in performance;To act as a team;  Honesty and justice in dealings;  Firm obedience to commitments undertaken; Timely completion of work; Respect for dignity and potential of individuals; Devotion and pride towards RVNL.

2.   BOARD OF DIRECTORS

2.1 Composition of the Board of Directors:

The present strength of the Board of RVNL comprises of nine (9) Directors.  The composition of the Board includes five (5) whole-time Directors including Chairman and Managing Director, and two (2) Government Nominees (on behalf of Ministry of Railways) as (part-time) (official) Director and two (2) Independent Directors.

 During 2015-16, the tenure of one Independent Director on the Board of RVNL (i.e. Mr. R.S. Sharma) concluded on 10.06.2015. Representations were made to the Ministry of Railways for appointing the requisite number of Independent Directors on the Board of RVNL. In addition, a monthly report on the position of vacancies at Board level is regularly sent to the Ministry of Railways with special request to expedite appointment of requisite Independent Directors.

The Ministry of Railways has appointed two Independent Directors (Mr. Vinayak Bhalachandra Karanjikar and Mr. Shiv Kumar Gupta) on 1.04.2016.

2.2 The details of Directors as on the date of this report are given below:

Board of Directors and their Memberships of BOD/Committees

(As on the date of this report)