On Monday, when a delegation led by NITI Ayog chairman Arvind Panagariya landed in Japan to freeze the fate of the Rs. 98,000-crore Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train, the Maharashtra government said it is prepared to accommodate the train station at the Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC).
Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on Monday said that a 4,000 square feet-plot has been set aside at the BKC for the station with an underground terminal and a commercial structure on top.
The cost of construction of the station or the commercial structure will not be borne by the State government, the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has informed the State. “There is no need for a large space, and the government is capable of accommodating this station, which will go two levels under the ground, without any trouble. This will not even put any financial burden on us (Maharashtra),” the Chief Minister said.
The JICA has agreed to finance 81 per cent of the total project cost or in other words, a soft loan of Rs. 79,380 crore. The Japanese firm has promised to give India the latest version of the Sinkansen bullet trains, promising to cover the distance of 508 kilometres between Mumbai and Ahmedabad in about two hours at more than 300-km-per-hour speed. Currently, the fastest train between the two cities takes about seven hours.
The construction of the train network is slated to start in 2018, and is likely to pass under the sea via a 21-km tunnel from Thane creek. Keeping in mind the importance of the project, the Railways has already formed a National High Speed Rail Corporation Limited (NHSRCL), a special purpose vehicle (SPV) with a paid-up capital of Rs. 500 crore. Both Maharashtra and Gujarat have equity of 25 per cent each in the SPV. “The commercial structure could then be milked for any future development in Mumbai. We will at a later stage decide how to commercially exploit the constructed structure,” said Mr. Fadnavis.
