Controversy on the land for the terminal of the proposed 508-km Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train at Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC) rages as the state government is adamant of not granting the land to Union r
Controversy on the land for the terminal of the proposed 508-km Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train at Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC) rages as the state government is adamant of not granting the land to Union railway ministry, citing that the land at BKC is meant for the International Financial Services Centre (IFSC) and not for a bullet train terminal.
“I have informed railway minister Suresh Prabhu again that the land available at the BKC will be used for the IFSC and cannot be given for bullet train terminal. The IFSC is something that the world is looking forward to. I have already received a proposal from an international company requesting land in IFSC,” said chief minister Devendra Fadnavis. He also said, “I had also written a letter to Mr Prabhu where I had stated that Centre should explore the option of constructing the terminal on its land at Kurla and no land will be allotted at BKC.”
However, A.K. Mittal, chairman of railway board while speaking to reporters at Make in India programme on Sunday had said that it was having a discussion with the state government on the issue and has stated that the finance centre will have a greater valuation if the terminal is built at BKC. However, the state government did not agree to this.
Reacting on this, a senior MMRDA official said, “It will be extremely disappointing if the state government allots land to Railways for the bullet train. The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) funds its project from the revenue collected here and one cannot expect us to give it away. We have made it clear that BKC cannot accommodate something like a bullet train terminal.”
The high-speed corridor will be elevated and bullet train will ply at 300 km to 350 km per hour. The total cost of the project is estimated to be Rs 98,000 crore.
The Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) is going to fund 81 per cent of the total amount as a loan to the government at the interest rate 0.1 per cent.
According to the initial plans, the bullet train was supposed to start at BKC and would have halts at Thane, Virar, Palghar, Vapi, Valsad and Ahmedabad. The Railways plans to start the work on the corridor in late 2017 or early 2018.
