India, Japan to finalize bullet train project today

The Dollar Business Bureau

Indian delegation, headed by NITI Ayog’s Vice Chairperson Arvind Panagariya, is expected to hold talks about the Rs.98,000 crore Mumbai-Ahmedabad high-speed rail project with Japanese officials on Monday.

The joint committee will meet for the second time in Tokyo to discuss about the project which is driven by Modi government’s ‘Make in India’ and ‘Transfer of Technology’ initiatives.

The committee is expected to chalk out the final plan of the project, discuss the terms relating to the appointment of general consultant and conditions of procurement.

The delegation from India will comprise of Shaktikanta Das-Secretary Department of Economic Affairs, AK Mital-Chairman Railway Board, Ramesh Abhishek-Secretary-Department of Industry Policy and Promotion and S Jaishankar-Foreign Secretary.

Hiroto Izumi, Special Adviser to the Prime Minister of Japan, will lead the Japanese delegation in the high-level joint committee meeting.

The Japanese delegation has officials from the Ministry of Economy, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Land, Trade and Industry, Transport and Tourism (MLIT), Infrastructure and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).

Around 81% of the project cost, which amounts to Rs.79,380 crore, is financed by JICA. The Indian version of Japanese bullet train Sinkansen will connect Mumbai-Ahmedabad. The bullet train is expected to cover 508km distance in two hours at a speed of 300km per hour.

While the approval, negotiation and sanction of loan will consume a lot of time, a statement released by the railway ministry revealed that the government sought a blueprint of the flagship project to complete it on time.

Aiming to fulfil the project under the Make in India initiative, the government sought for appointment of a general consultant before the loan agreement is inked. The general consultant will then begin work on the  tender documents and designs.

The interaction between Japanese and Indian firms is scheduled to take place on May 17 in Japan.

Around 21 Indian firms, including BEML, BHEL, IRCON, Tata Infrastructure, Reliance Metro, Patil Infrastructure, JBM, Hindustan Construction Company, IL$FS and Texmaco Rail are expected to participate in the session. On the other side, around 100 Japanese firms are expected to take part.