Fadnavis pacified with Mumbai-Nagpur bullet train at last minute

Shiv Kumar

Tribune News Service

Mumbai, September 14

The Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train was stuck till the last minute as Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis delayed allotting land at the Bandra-Kurla Complex till the last minute.

Finally the Central Government won him over by clearing his pet project — the Mumbai-Nagpur bullet train, state government sources said.

The Mumbai-Nagpur bullet train will ply beneath the proposed expressway that is to run between both the cities, officials say.

“The Central Government has agreed to let the Japan International Co-operation Agency (JICA) to fund this project as well on terms and conditions similar to the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train,” a senior official said.

Though bureaucrats connected with the Mumbai-Nagpur Samruddhi corridor, as the project is known, have come under scanner for buying land along the expressway for speculative purposes, land acquisition for 706-km road is proceeding at full swing, according to sources.

Several townships are planned to be developed on either sides of the expressway.

The Mumbai terminus of the bullet train will be located beneath the proposed International Financial Centre which is to come up at the BKC.

The IFC itself has been conceived along the lines of GIFT city, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s pet project when he was the Chief Minister of Gujarat.

Sources say, construction of the bullet train terminus and the IFC above it would be synchronized to ensure that there are no hurdles to either project.

The Railways will soon begin a feasibility study for constructing the bullet train between Mumbai and Nagpur.

The Maharashtra Government got another sop when the Centre waived off Rs 125 crore to be provided by the state as its initial contribution for the bullet train project.

The 0.9 hectare land provided for the bullet train terminus at BKC has been valued at Rs 125 crore and adjusted for the purpose, according to sources.