The National High-Speed Rail Corporation (NHSRCL) has acquired 60 percent of the land required for the Mumbai- Ahmedabad Bullet Train project. In Gujarat it goes up to around 77 percent.
The total land requirement for the Mumbai-Ahmedabad High-Speed Rail Corridor project was reduced to 1,380.08 ha from 1,434.47 ha in 2019, mainly due to actual reconciliation of the project scope. Of the total land required for the project, 1,004.91 ha is private land. So far, around 820-830 ha of land has been acquired by NHSRCL.
The government has signed a loan agreement with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) for providing Rs 15,000 crore, of the total loan amount of Rs 88,000 crore. The estimated total cost of the project is Rs 1.08 trillion, of which 81 percent cost is planned for funding through the loan from JICA.
Apart from land acquisition, another cause for concern before the project is cost escalation owing to a fall in the rupee against the Japanese yen. Also, farmers in Maharashtra were asking for a higher compensation package.
The 508.17 km long network will pass through three districts -- Mumbai, Thane and Palghar in Maharashtra and eight districts -- Valsad, Navsari, Surat, Bharuch, Vadodara, Anand, Kheda, and Ahmedabad -- in Gujarat.
Moreover, the alignment also passes through a small section falling in the Union Territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli.
The state government of Maharashtra had recently amended state land rules to start the process of acquisition as direct purchase of land was taking too much of time.
The company had floated nine civil work tenders in 2019, which would be opened by the end of July or early August 2020. One of the civil work contracts for construction of stations, bridges, viaducts, maintenance depots, and tunnels across the network is worth Rs 20,000 crore. However, key tenders, including Shinkansen technology like electrical, rolling stocks, signaling, and tracks, will be open to only Japanese companies.