• Latest
  • Trending

Japan’s Mumbai-Ahmedabad fast rail project gets bogged down due to policy confusion

April 28, 2018
Image credits - Laurenz Heymann / Unsplash

Apple’s ‘Spring loaded’ event: The six biggest announcements

April 21, 2021
Image credits - IPL 2021: After Dhoni, Rohit becomes 2nd captain to be fined for over-rate offence (Courtesy of BCCI)

IPL 2021: Rohit Sharma fined Rs 1.2 million for slow over rate during MI’s loss to DC

April 21, 2021
Image credits - Who’s Denilo ? @whoisdenilo / Unsplash

Football: English Premier League clubs pull out of European Super League plan after outcry

April 21, 2021
Britain's Queen Elizabeth II and her husband, Britain's Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh walk at Broadlands, Hampshire, in 2007.PHOTO: AFP

Queen Elizabeth marks 95th birthday, days after husband Prince Philip’s funeral

April 21, 2021
Image credits - Gayatri Malhotra / Unsplash

Minneapolis jury convicts ex-policeman Derek Chauvin of murdering George Floyd

April 21, 2021
Image credits - Sai Kiran Anagani @_imkiran / Unsplash

Arrest of Indian fishermen only present solution to Indo-Lanka fishermen row – Douglas

April 21, 2021
Xi says global governance should reflect the evolving political and economic landscape

Xi says global governance should reflect the evolving political and economic landscape

April 21, 2021
Gotabaya Rajapaksa.

Gotabaya Rajapaksa says sovereignty of independent states should in no way be undermined

April 21, 2021
The Lankan “death trap”

The Lankan “death trap”

April 21, 2021
Image credits - Fusion Medical Animation @fusion_medical_animation / Unsplash

Covid clusters reported from Pamunuwa & Fort State bank

April 20, 2021
US dithers on gun control despite mounting deaths due to gun culture

US dithers on gun control despite mounting deaths due to gun culture

April 20, 2021
Imran Khan’s climb to the political summit was long and hard

Pakistan PM calls for West to criminalise blasphemy against Islam

April 20, 2021
  • About Us
  • Advertisements
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact
Wednesday, April 21, 2021
  • Login
  • Register
No Result
View All Result
NewsIn.Asia
  • Home
  • Around South Asia
    • All
    • Afghanistan
    • Bangladesh
    • Bhutan
    • China
    • India
    • Maldives
    • Myanmar
    • Nepal
    • Pakistan
    • Sri Lanka
    Image credits - Sai Kiran Anagani @_imkiran / Unsplash

    Arrest of Indian fishermen only present solution to Indo-Lanka fishermen row – Douglas

    Xi says global governance should reflect the evolving political and economic landscape

    Xi says global governance should reflect the evolving political and economic landscape

    Gotabaya Rajapaksa.

    Gotabaya Rajapaksa says sovereignty of independent states should in no way be undermined

    The Lankan “death trap”

    The Lankan “death trap”

    Image credits - Fusion Medical Animation @fusion_medical_animation / Unsplash

    Covid clusters reported from Pamunuwa & Fort State bank

    Imran Khan’s climb to the political summit was long and hard

    Pakistan PM calls for West to criminalise blasphemy against Islam

    Imran Khan’s address to Sri Lankan Parliament cancelled

    Pakistan PM Imran Khan to visit Saudi Arabia

    India to cover 100 million in the second phase of COVID-19 vaccination

    India to allow COVID-19 vaccines for all adults as cases surge

    Vaccine. Image credits - Hakan Nural / Unsplash

    India to waive import duty on COVID-19 vaccines, says govt source

  • World
    • All
    • Japan
    • Russia
    • United States
    Image credits - Laurenz Heymann / Unsplash

    Apple’s ‘Spring loaded’ event: The six biggest announcements

    Image credits - Who’s Denilo ? @whoisdenilo / Unsplash

    Football: English Premier League clubs pull out of European Super League plan after outcry

    Britain's Queen Elizabeth II and her husband, Britain's Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh walk at Broadlands, Hampshire, in 2007.PHOTO: AFP

    Queen Elizabeth marks 95th birthday, days after husband Prince Philip’s funeral

    Image credits - Gayatri Malhotra / Unsplash

    Minneapolis jury convicts ex-policeman Derek Chauvin of murdering George Floyd

    US dithers on gun control despite mounting deaths due to gun culture

    US dithers on gun control despite mounting deaths due to gun culture

    Image credits - Pierpaolo Riondato @rynocerontem / Unsplash

    Man orders apples online, gets an iPhone

    Image credits - Sophie Walsh @sophie_walsh9 / @9NewsAUS, Twitter

    Hugs, tears as New Zealand-Australia travel bubble opens

    Facebook. Image credits - Solen Feyissa @solenfeyissa

    Facebook delays decision on lifting Trump ban

    © Getty Images Geschke set up Adobe in 1982

    Adobe co-founder who helped develop the PDF dies

  • Business
  • Politics
  • Sports
  • Entertainment
    • All
    • Gaming
    • Movie
    • Music
    • Series
    Image credits - Variety / BAFTAImage credits - Variety / BAFTA

    BAFTA Awards 2021: See the full list of winners

    The name of Farhan Akhtar's Marvel project was not revealed. (Photo: Farhan Akhtar/Instagram)

    Farhan Akhtar shooting for secret Marvel project in Thailand

    SAG Awards 2019. Rob Latour/REX/Shutterstock

    Key winners at the 2021 Screen Actors Guild Awards

    The tragic life of Bollywood’s ethereal beauty

    The tragic life of Bollywood’s ethereal beauty

    © Photograph: Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP Busy … George RR Martin.

    George RR Martin signs five-year, eight-figure deal for more HBO projects

    Art across the Palk Strait

    Art across the Palk Strait

    Marvel - Black Widow

    Marvel couldn’t wait any longer to kick off its next phase of movies and shows

    Image credits - Glenn Carstens-Peters / Unsplash

    Amazon Prime Video to produce its first Bollywood film in India

    Image credits - The Verge

    Justice League: After four years and countless tweets, the Snyder Cut is here

  • Lifestyle
    • All
    • Fashion
    • Food
    • Health
    • Science
    • Travel
    Trust in Chinese vaccines gives European countries head start in global inoculation race

    Trust in Chinese vaccines gives European countries head start in global inoculation race

    Mask. Image credits - Vera Davidova / Unsplash

    How often do you wash your mask? This is how a mask worn for 6 hours looks like

    Image credits - © SuitX Exoskeletons give the wearer more power and endurance

    The ‘Iron Man’ body armour many of us may soon be wearing

    Image credits - Rachel Park / Unsplash

    10 benefits of fasting that will surprise you

    Pakistani dates tickle Lankan taste buds

    Pakistani dates tickle Lankan taste buds

    Image credits - Adam Gonzales / Unsplash

    Singapore becomes a global cruise leader, for now

    Covid-19. Image credits - Hakan Nural / Unsplash

    Clear link between AstraZeneca vaccine and rare blood clots in brain, EMA official tells paper

    Image credits - Lukas Blazek / Unsplash

    Is Big Tech going off remote working?

    Image credits - JC Gellidon / Unsplash

    A third of COVID survivors suffer neurological or mental disorders: study

    2456 Chinese nationals given the first dose of Sinopharm vaccine

    2456 Chinese nationals given the first dose of Sinopharm vaccine

    Trending Tags

    • Golden Globes
    • Mr. Robot
    • MotoGP 2017
    • Climate Change
    • Flat Earth
  • Tech
    Image credits - Laurenz Heymann / Unsplash

    Apple’s ‘Spring loaded’ event: The six biggest announcements

    Facebook. Image credits - Solen Feyissa @solenfeyissa

    Facebook delays decision on lifting Trump ban

    © Getty Images Geschke set up Adobe in 1982

    Adobe co-founder who helped develop the PDF dies

    Image credits - Neil Soni @neilsoniphotography / Unsplash

    iPhone users get two major features on WhatsApp that Android users don’t have

    Image credits - AARN GIRI / Unsplash

    New WhatsApp flaw can let cyber attackers deactivate your account using your phone number

    Image credits - © SuitX Exoskeletons give the wearer more power and endurance

    The ‘Iron Man’ body armour many of us may soon be wearing

    Trending Tags

    • Sillicon Valley
    • Climate Change
    • Election Results
    • Flat Earth
    • Golden Globes
    • MotoGP 2017
    • Mr. Robot
  • Coronavirus
  • Home
  • Around South Asia
    • All
    • Afghanistan
    • Bangladesh
    • Bhutan
    • China
    • India
    • Maldives
    • Myanmar
    • Nepal
    • Pakistan
    • Sri Lanka
    Image credits - Sai Kiran Anagani @_imkiran / Unsplash

    Arrest of Indian fishermen only present solution to Indo-Lanka fishermen row – Douglas

    Xi says global governance should reflect the evolving political and economic landscape

    Xi says global governance should reflect the evolving political and economic landscape

    Gotabaya Rajapaksa.

    Gotabaya Rajapaksa says sovereignty of independent states should in no way be undermined

    The Lankan “death trap”

    The Lankan “death trap”

    Image credits - Fusion Medical Animation @fusion_medical_animation / Unsplash

    Covid clusters reported from Pamunuwa & Fort State bank

    Imran Khan’s climb to the political summit was long and hard

    Pakistan PM calls for West to criminalise blasphemy against Islam

    Imran Khan’s address to Sri Lankan Parliament cancelled

    Pakistan PM Imran Khan to visit Saudi Arabia

    India to cover 100 million in the second phase of COVID-19 vaccination

    India to allow COVID-19 vaccines for all adults as cases surge

    Vaccine. Image credits - Hakan Nural / Unsplash

    India to waive import duty on COVID-19 vaccines, says govt source

  • World
    • All
    • Japan
    • Russia
    • United States
    Image credits - Laurenz Heymann / Unsplash

    Apple’s ‘Spring loaded’ event: The six biggest announcements

    Image credits - Who’s Denilo ? @whoisdenilo / Unsplash

    Football: English Premier League clubs pull out of European Super League plan after outcry

    Britain's Queen Elizabeth II and her husband, Britain's Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh walk at Broadlands, Hampshire, in 2007.PHOTO: AFP

    Queen Elizabeth marks 95th birthday, days after husband Prince Philip’s funeral

    Image credits - Gayatri Malhotra / Unsplash

    Minneapolis jury convicts ex-policeman Derek Chauvin of murdering George Floyd

    US dithers on gun control despite mounting deaths due to gun culture

    US dithers on gun control despite mounting deaths due to gun culture

    Image credits - Pierpaolo Riondato @rynocerontem / Unsplash

    Man orders apples online, gets an iPhone

    Image credits - Sophie Walsh @sophie_walsh9 / @9NewsAUS, Twitter

    Hugs, tears as New Zealand-Australia travel bubble opens

    Facebook. Image credits - Solen Feyissa @solenfeyissa

    Facebook delays decision on lifting Trump ban

    © Getty Images Geschke set up Adobe in 1982

    Adobe co-founder who helped develop the PDF dies

  • Business
  • Politics
  • Sports
  • Entertainment
    • All
    • Gaming
    • Movie
    • Music
    • Series
    Image credits - Variety / BAFTAImage credits - Variety / BAFTA

    BAFTA Awards 2021: See the full list of winners

    The name of Farhan Akhtar's Marvel project was not revealed. (Photo: Farhan Akhtar/Instagram)

    Farhan Akhtar shooting for secret Marvel project in Thailand

    SAG Awards 2019. Rob Latour/REX/Shutterstock

    Key winners at the 2021 Screen Actors Guild Awards

    The tragic life of Bollywood’s ethereal beauty

    The tragic life of Bollywood’s ethereal beauty

    © Photograph: Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP Busy … George RR Martin.

    George RR Martin signs five-year, eight-figure deal for more HBO projects

    Art across the Palk Strait

    Art across the Palk Strait

    Marvel - Black Widow

    Marvel couldn’t wait any longer to kick off its next phase of movies and shows

    Image credits - Glenn Carstens-Peters / Unsplash

    Amazon Prime Video to produce its first Bollywood film in India

    Image credits - The Verge

    Justice League: After four years and countless tweets, the Snyder Cut is here

  • Lifestyle
    • All
    • Fashion
    • Food
    • Health
    • Science
    • Travel
    Trust in Chinese vaccines gives European countries head start in global inoculation race

    Trust in Chinese vaccines gives European countries head start in global inoculation race

    Mask. Image credits - Vera Davidova / Unsplash

    How often do you wash your mask? This is how a mask worn for 6 hours looks like

    Image credits - © SuitX Exoskeletons give the wearer more power and endurance

    The ‘Iron Man’ body armour many of us may soon be wearing

    Image credits - Rachel Park / Unsplash

    10 benefits of fasting that will surprise you

    Pakistani dates tickle Lankan taste buds

    Pakistani dates tickle Lankan taste buds

    Image credits - Adam Gonzales / Unsplash

    Singapore becomes a global cruise leader, for now

    Covid-19. Image credits - Hakan Nural / Unsplash

    Clear link between AstraZeneca vaccine and rare blood clots in brain, EMA official tells paper

    Image credits - Lukas Blazek / Unsplash

    Is Big Tech going off remote working?

    Image credits - JC Gellidon / Unsplash

    A third of COVID survivors suffer neurological or mental disorders: study

    2456 Chinese nationals given the first dose of Sinopharm vaccine

    2456 Chinese nationals given the first dose of Sinopharm vaccine

    Trending Tags

    • Golden Globes
    • Mr. Robot
    • MotoGP 2017
    • Climate Change
    • Flat Earth
  • Tech
    Image credits - Laurenz Heymann / Unsplash

    Apple’s ‘Spring loaded’ event: The six biggest announcements

    Facebook. Image credits - Solen Feyissa @solenfeyissa

    Facebook delays decision on lifting Trump ban

    © Getty Images Geschke set up Adobe in 1982

    Adobe co-founder who helped develop the PDF dies

    Image credits - Neil Soni @neilsoniphotography / Unsplash

    iPhone users get two major features on WhatsApp that Android users don’t have

    Image credits - AARN GIRI / Unsplash

    New WhatsApp flaw can let cyber attackers deactivate your account using your phone number

    Image credits - © SuitX Exoskeletons give the wearer more power and endurance

    The ‘Iron Man’ body armour many of us may soon be wearing

    Trending Tags

    • Sillicon Valley
    • Climate Change
    • Election Results
    • Flat Earth
    • Golden Globes
    • MotoGP 2017
    • Mr. Robot
  • Coronavirus
No Result
View All Result
NewsIn.Asia
No Result
View All Result
Home Business

Japan’s Mumbai-Ahmedabad fast rail project gets bogged down due to policy confusion

Editor by Editor
April 28, 2018
in Business, India, Top Story
Reading Time: 5min read
1 0
Share on WhatsApp
Tokyo, April 28 (Sentaku Magazine): The construction of a new high-speed railway line in India is scheduled to officially get underway this year, connecting the commercial capital of Mumbai and the industrial city of Ahmedabad in the western part of the country.
The project to build the line fashioned after Japan’s shinkansen system is a product of an agreement between Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his Indian counterpart, Narendra Modi, in their December 2015 summit.

Yet anxiety is already rising due to soaring costs brought about by haphazard policies of the Indian government, leading both the Japanese government and Japanese firms to start getting bogged down.

On Sept. 14 last year, less than two years after the summit, a groundbreaking ceremony was held in Ahmedabad, attended by both Abe and Modi. The total cost of the project is set at 1.08 trillion rupees (about ¥1.8 trillion). Of that total, 880 billion rupees (about ¥1.46 trillion) earmarked for the actual construction work is to be funded by yen-denominated loans from the Japanese government with an annual interest rate of 0.1 percent and repayable in 50 years.

The terms of the loans, which a Japanese Foreign Ministry official said are “exceptionally generous,” show how infatuated Tokyo is with the project. Indeed, Modi said at the groundbreaking ceremony that Japan was providing India with funds at a near zero interest rate.

Maybe India feels that the railway line will be constructed by Japan virtually for free. An Indian official confided that the yen-denominated loans come close to a “gift” if inflation is taken into consideration.

In mid-March, meanwhile, more than 60,000 farmers took to the streets in Mumbai, which is in the state of Maharashtra, demanding full implementation of the promise made by the Maharashtra state government to forgive their debts and also seeking higher purchase prices for agricultural products.

The state government of Maharashtra gave into the farmers’ demands and promised full cancelation of all of their debts. Why was the state government so generous to the farmers even at the risk of creating a moral hazard? The answer is simple. There will be general elections next year and the Modi regime cannot afford to antagonize farmers, who account for 60 percent of the nation’s eligible voters. And the farmers know that the government cannot ignore their demands.

Noteworthy is the fact that the agreement reached between the state government and the farmers included a provision on the “Bullet Train,” which stipulates that the wishes of landowners will be fully taken into account in connection with the construction of the high-speed railway. This vaguely worded provision could lead to an unrestrained escalation of the farmers’ demands when it comes to the purchase of their land for the project.

Indeed, land acquisition for the project is progressing at an extremely slow pace. Because India is a democratic country, the government cannot forcibly take property away from its citizens as China is doing. When the high-speed railway project plan was started, earthen embankments were to be built along 322 km, or 64 percent, of the total 505 km of tracks between Mumbai and Ahmedabad.

Although elevated railroads were originally planned to cover 144 km, or 28 percent of the total, the elevated portions have been made much longer and the embankments much shorter. India made the changes on the grounds that it is too time-consuming to purchase land for embankments and that embankments will carry an inherent danger of trains colliding with people and cattle. But the real reason for the changes was that since purchase of land is not covered by the yen-denominated loans from Japan and is supposed to be carried out by the Indian side, India wanted to reduce its costs.

Ultimately about 90 percent of the entire railway line will be elevated. But this change has not been reported by the media. Strangely, the total cost of the project remains unchanged from 2015 at ¥1.8 trillion even though a railway journalist points out that changing from an embankment to an elevated railroad will more than triple the construction cost. A staff member of a Japanese trading firm stationed in India says that the change will fatten the total cost by hundreds of billions of yen. Yet no such figures have been made public.

Arbitrary changes by India are not limited to this. New Delhi has now told Tokyo that the date for starting the operation of the high-speed train services will be moved up by one year from the original target date of 2023 as agreed on at the groundbreaking event. This came as a total surprise to Japan even though local media quoted a high-ranking Indian government official as saying that the train services will start in 2022 to mark the 75th anniversary of India’s independence.

When Keiichi Ishii, the minister of land, infrastructure, transport and tourism, visited India last December, the Indian side is said to have hinted at a partial opening of the projected railway line.

Since the high-speed train project is a showpiece project for the Modi administration, India arbitrarily changes plans, unmindful of the situation faced by Japan.

Accelerating the speed of construction will naturally entail additional costs. It appears all but certain that India will ask Japan to shoulder the increased costs as a matter of course. If the aforementioned agreement with the farmers is implemented arbitrarily, there will be a chance that India will ask for changes in the railway route as well as for changes in the specifications of the railway system. The construction costs will most likely rise, and there is no chance that they will go down.

One of the reasons Japan was able to grab the contract for the Indian project despite stiff competition with other countries was the safety proven by its shinkansen system, which is said to be the “world’s best.” But a major crack found last December on a bogie frame of a shinkansen car could shake the system’s reputation for safety.

An official of the Japanese transport ministry has expressed fear that this incident might lead India to sound out other countries about manufacturing the rolling stock or demand more use of Indian products for the project.

Japan offered extraordinarily favorable loan terms to India for constructing the Mumbai-Ahmedabad railway line because it expected that Japanese companies would be able to win similar deals for speed-train railway projects covering all of the subcontinent. But the aforementioned railway journalist says that India has not made any decision on other projects and that there is a high possibility those projects will be awarded to Europe or China.

Earlier this year it was reported that a joint venture including Obayashi Corp., a major Japanese general contractor, will likely win an order to build a high-speed railway section near Ahmedabad. That means that Japan has already gone beyond the point of no return as far as the Mumbai-Ahmedabad project is concerned.

At the groundbreaking ceremony last September, Abe said both the private and public sectors of Japan will work hard together for the good of India. But Japan now faces the possibility of wastefully pouring large sums of Japanese taxpayers’ money into the project. That would be the price that the Japanese people would be paying for their government committing itself to a project without fully considering the possible consequences.

This is an abridged translation of an article from the April issue of Sentaku, a monthly magazine covering political, social and economic scenes. More English articles can be read at www.sentaku-en.com.

SendShare12TweetShareShare
Editor

Editor

Recommended Articles

  • All
  • Recommend
Xi says global governance should reflect the evolving political and economic landscape

Xi says global governance should reflect the evolving political and economic landscape

April 21, 2021
IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva says China’s recovery has boosted demand

IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva says China’s recovery has boosted demand

April 19, 2021
Our lands are under threat, say Tamils in Sri Lanka’s Eastern Province

Our lands are under threat, say Tamils in Sri Lanka’s Eastern Province

April 18, 2021
A Phone Conversation Piloting a New Voyage

A Phone Conversation Piloting a New Voyage

April 17, 2021
Unplugging Bangladesh

Unplugging Bangladesh

April 17, 2021
China-funded US$ 1.4 billion Colombo Port City project faces legal challenge

China-funded US$ 1.4 billion Colombo Port City project faces legal challenge

April 16, 2021

Advertorial

  • All
  • Advertorial
Visual and Textual Analysis for Images with Reverse Search Tools

Visual and Textual Analysis for Images with Reverse Search Tools

January 3, 2021

Popular Now

  • Image credits - Fusion Medical Animation @fusion_medical_animation / Unsplash

    Covid clusters reported from Pamunuwa & Fort State bank

    24 shares
    Share 10 Tweet 6
  • Sri Lanka issues health guidelines for Ramadan related activities in Mosques

    16 shares
    Share 6 Tweet 4
  • Sri Lanka will build South Asia’s first Disneyland

    277 shares
    Share 111 Tweet 69
  • China-funded Colombo Port City project faces serious legal challenge

    11 shares
    Share 4 Tweet 3
  • The Lankan “death trap”

    10 shares
    Share 4 Tweet 3
  • About Us
  • Advertisements
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact

© 2020 NewsIn.Asia - Lovingly maintained by DigitalArc.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Around South Asia
    • Afghanistan
    • Bangladesh
    • Bhutan
    • China
    • India
    • Maldives
    • Myanmar
    • Nepal
    • Pakistan
    • Sri Lanka
  • Around The World
  • Breaking News
  • Business
    • Exchange
  • Climate Change
  • Governance
    • Crime
    • Diplomacy
    • Defense
    • Human Rights
    • Politics
    • Strategic Affairs
  • Lifestyle
    • Books
    • Entertainment
      • Arts
      • Cinema
      • Gaming
      • Music
      • Movie
      • Series
      • TV
    • Health
    • Fashion
    • Food
    • Travel
  • Culture
    • Ethnicity
    • Gender
  • Development news
  • Economy
  • Education
  • Environment
  • Coronavirus
  • History
  • National
  • Offbeat
    • Media
    • Music and arts across South Asia
  • Recommended
    • Headlines
    • Highlights
    • Top Picture
    • Top Story
  • Religion
  • Science
  • Sports
    • Football
    • Cricket
      • LPL
      • IPL
    • Tennis
    • Formula 1
    • NBA
  • Tech
    • Instagram
  • United Nations
  • Weather
  • World
    • Japan
    • Russia
    • United States

© 2020 NewsIn.Asia - Lovingly maintained by DigitalArc.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password? Sign Up

Create New Account!

Fill the forms below to register

All fields are required. Log In

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In