by Girish
Kuber
AFTER bartering
oil for food, the Indian government plans to trade its railway building
expertise in exchange for crude oil.
The Indian
Railway, last week signed an MoU with the Iraqi government for 14 rail projects
worth Rs 11,000 crore. The project is subject to approval from the United
Nations since Iraq faces UN sanctions.
Iraq has the
second largest oil reserves in the world. Last year, Iraq and India had traded
oil for wheat, with New Delhi giving 35,000 tons of wheat for $250 million of
Iraqi crude oil. "Now the government is planning to obtain Iraqi oil
supply in exchange of building railways in that country," sources from the
railway ministry
told ET yesterday.
There are 14
railway projects that Iraq wants the Indian Railway to execute. The project
includes a $250m Skybus system for the city of Baghdad and a railway line
between Baghdad and Mashoba.
However, all
this needs a nod from the United Nations. "The Indian government is soon
expected to move the UN for waiver of sanctions," an official associated
with the exercise said. India is already trading wheat, Basmati rice and tea
for oil, he pointed out.
Last week a high-power delegation visited
Iraq after which Digvijay Singh, the minister of state for railways, signed a
MoU with his lraqi counterpart.
Last year the
Iraqi government had signed a memorandum of understanding with the Konkan
Railway Corporation (KRC) for building the mass transit system Sky bus.
"The MoU at the governmental level is the next
step," said a railway official. "The Iraqi government is keen to have an innovative mass
transit system like the Skybus for Baghdad. The corporation is looking forward
to this opportunity, " B Rajaram, chairman, KRC confirmed to ET. He,
however, declined to divulge any more details and said: " The matter is
being handled at the government level"
"Though the
Iraqi government wants to expedite the process, the future of the project
depends on the UN, " said an official. The Indian government cannot
unilaterally execute the contract, as it will violate UN sanctions.