NEW DELHI The Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train project, which is scheduled to be completed in December 2023, may not meet its deadline due to the coronavirus pandemic that has caused delays in the opening of tenders and land acquisition, authorities said.
The National High Speed Rail Corporation (NHSRCL) has already acquired 63% of the land for the project: around 77% in Gujarat, 80% in Dadar Nagar Haveli and 22% in Maharashtra. Authorities said there are still problems acquiring land in areas such as Palghar in Maharashtra and Navsari in Gujarat.
Last year, the company had submitted nine tenders for civil works that could not be opened due to the coronavirus pandemic, authorities said.
“Due to COVID we had to postpone the opening of some of the tenders. It is difficult to assess the impact of the pandemic on the project, as it is still ongoing. We cannot say how the pandemic will affect the project as I do not know how long it will last, “said Dr. Achal Khare of NHSRCL.
Officially, the NHSRCL spokesperson maintained that the deadline for the project was still 2023.
One of the civil works contracts for the construction of stations, bridges, viaducts, maintenance depots and tunnels along the network is in charge of ₹20,000 crore.
Civil works tenders for 345 km of 508 km of alignment, or 68 percent of civil works, have already been submitted. This includes six MAHSR stations (including one metro station in Mumbai). Works related to the diversion of utilities are progressing well and construction has also started on the Sabarmati passenger center (a multimodal hub) in Sabarmati, Gujarat.
The High Speed Training Institute shelter building (currently used for COVID patients) and training tracks in Vadodara were also completed.
The 508.17-kilometer long network will pass through three districts in Maharashtra (Mumbai, Thane and Palghar) and eight districts in Gujarat (Valsad, Navsari, Surat, Bharuch, Vadodara, Anand, Kheda and Ahmedabad).
Aside from land acquisition, another major cause of delay could be escalating costs due to the rupee’s fall against the Japanese yen.
The total cost of the project is linked to ₹Rs 1.08 lakh crore and according to the participation pattern the government of India must pay ₹10,000 crore to the NHSRCL, while the two states involved, Gujarat and Maharashtra, must pay ₹5,000 crore each. The rest will be paid by Japan through a loan at 0.1% interest.
A section of the Ahmedabad-Mumbai high-speed rail corridor is likely to be put up for tender within three months after the completion of nearly 90 percent of the land acquisition for the project, an official said.
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