Two Japanese firms have submitted price bids for the western dedicated freight corridor project of Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India.

Two firms - Sojitz and Mitsui - have placed their price bids for the 322 km Iqbalgarh-Vadodara route of the project.

The entire project, estimated to cost Rs 11,446 crore, is being funded by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). As per the loan contract, the lead partner for the project has to be from Japan and 30 per cent of materials will be sourced from Japanese companies. The project, to be executed in three phases, will connect Dadri near New Delhi to Mumbai, and will pass through Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Maharashtra.

Due to lack of interest by Japanese firms, the bidding for Iqbalgarh-Vadodara route was pushed back several times by the Indian Railways. However, three Japanese firms - Sojitz, Mitsui and Marubeni - were already qualified for participation in the bidding but didn't initially come forward to put in bids. Marubeni, which had also qualified, stayed away from the bidding as the company wasn't very comfortable with its Indian partner, Tata Projects.

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