Japan has offered to finance India’s first high-speed line, estimated to cost USD 15 billion, at an interest rate of less than 1 percent, officials said, stealing a march on China, which is bidding for other projects on the world’s fourth-largest network, The Economic Times reports.
Tokyo was picked to assess the feasibility of building the 505 km rail corridor linking Mumbai with Ahmedabad, the commercial capital of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home state, and concluded it would be technically and financially viable.
The project to build and supply the route will be put out to tender, but offering finance makes Japan the clear frontrunner.
“There are several (players) offering the high-speed technology. But technology and funding together, we only have one offer. That is the Japanese,” A. K. Mital, the chairman of the Indian Railway Board said.
Japan has offered to meet 80 percent of the Mumbai-Ahmedabad 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, which led the feasibility survey, said the journey time between Mumbai and Ahmedabad would be cut to two hours from seven. The route will require 11 new tunnels including one undersea near Mumbai.
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