Japan has offered to finance India's first bullet train between Mumbai and Ahmadabad, estimated to cost %15 billion, at an interest rate of less than 1%, official said, stealing a march on China who is bidding for the other projects on the world fourth largest network.
Tokyo was picked to assess the feasibility of building the 505km corridor linking Mumbai with Ahmadabad. The project to build and supply the route will be put out to tender, but offering finance makes Japan the clear front runner.
In Sept. China won the contract to access the feasibility of a high-speed train between Delhi and Mumbai, a route of 1200km estimated a cost of twice as compared to Mumbai and Ahmadabad route.
The two projects are part of a 'Diamond Quadrilateral' of high speed trains over 10,000km of track that India wants to set up connecting Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata.
Japan's decision to offer Finance @ interest of less than 15 is part of its broader push back against China involvement in infrastructure development in South Asia over the past several year. Tokyo's push in India comes just after week after it lost out to China on the contract to build Indonesia's first fast-train link.
The chairman of the Indian Railway Board, AK Mittal said "There are several offering the high-speed technology. But technology and funding together, we have only one offer That is Japanese".
Japan has offered to meet 80 percent of the Mumbai-Ahmadabad project cost, on condition that India buys 30 percent of equipment including the coaches and locomotives from Japanese firms, officials said.
Japan's International Cooperation Agency(JICA), which led the feasibility survey, said the journey time between Mumbai and Ahmadabad would be reduced to 2hrs from 7hr. The route will require 11 new tunnels including one undersea tunnel near Mumbai.
"What complicates the process is Japanese linking funding to use their technology. There must be technology transfer," said AK Mittal.
However JICA declined to comment on the details of its offer. "The reports has already been handed over to India, and the Indian government is now in the process of making a consideration," a spokeperson of the JICA said.
Toshihiro Yamakoshi, counsellor in the economic section of the Japanese Embassy, said Japanese companies were keen to collaborate with their Indian counterparts on the rail projects as a part of Modi's Make-in-India program.
India's cabinet will take a decision on the Japanese proposal over the next few weeks, as an Indian railway official said. He also said that there were lingering concerns about whether billions of dollars required for high-speed rail might be more usefully spent in modernizing the railway system.
"There is lot of money involved in this. The different departments are weighing the implications. Should we be committing all our resources to a single high-speed line," the official said on the condition of anonymity.
"The railway have not attempted anything as big as this before in terms of costs," the official quoted.
Source first published: TOI
Tokyo was picked to assess the feasibility of building the 505km corridor linking Mumbai with Ahmadabad. The project to build and supply the route will be put out to tender, but offering finance makes Japan the clear front runner.
In Sept. China won the contract to access the feasibility of a high-speed train between Delhi and Mumbai, a route of 1200km estimated a cost of twice as compared to Mumbai and Ahmadabad route.
The two projects are part of a 'Diamond Quadrilateral' of high speed trains over 10,000km of track that India wants to set up connecting Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata.
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| Diamond Quadrilateral |
Japan's decision to offer Finance @ interest of less than 15 is part of its broader push back against China involvement in infrastructure development in South Asia over the past several year. Tokyo's push in India comes just after week after it lost out to China on the contract to build Indonesia's first fast-train link.
The chairman of the Indian Railway Board, AK Mittal said "There are several offering the high-speed technology. But technology and funding together, we have only one offer That is Japanese".
Japan has offered to meet 80 percent of the Mumbai-Ahmadabad project cost, on condition that India buys 30 percent of equipment including the coaches and locomotives from Japanese firms, officials said.
Japan's International Cooperation Agency(JICA), which led the feasibility survey, said the journey time between Mumbai and Ahmadabad would be reduced to 2hrs from 7hr. The route will require 11 new tunnels including one undersea tunnel near Mumbai.
"What complicates the process is Japanese linking funding to use their technology. There must be technology transfer," said AK Mittal.
However JICA declined to comment on the details of its offer. "The reports has already been handed over to India, and the Indian government is now in the process of making a consideration," a spokeperson of the JICA said.
Toshihiro Yamakoshi, counsellor in the economic section of the Japanese Embassy, said Japanese companies were keen to collaborate with their Indian counterparts on the rail projects as a part of Modi's Make-in-India program.
India's cabinet will take a decision on the Japanese proposal over the next few weeks, as an Indian railway official said. He also said that there were lingering concerns about whether billions of dollars required for high-speed rail might be more usefully spent in modernizing the railway system.
"There is lot of money involved in this. The different departments are weighing the implications. Should we be committing all our resources to a single high-speed line," the official said on the condition of anonymity.
"The railway have not attempted anything as big as this before in terms of costs," the official quoted.
Source first published: TOI
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