Bullet Train project gathers speed, Maharashtra govt to pronto release Rs 6 cr to pick up equity shares in NHSRCL

Mumbai: The new state government, which recently issued all clearances for the Mumbai-Ahmedabad Bullet train, issued a government resolution (GR) on Monday to give Rs 6 crore to the National High Speed Railway Corporation Ltd (NHSRCL) to pick up state government’s equity shares.

The NHSRCL is the special purpose vehicle (SPV) incorporated in February 2016 with the objective to finance, construct, maintain and manage the High-Speed Rail Corridor (HSRC) in India. The company has been modelled as an SPV with equity participation by the Central Government through the Ministry of Railways and from Gujarat and Maharashtra governments.

Of the total share capital of Rs 20,000 crore, the Maharashtra and Gujarat governments will contribute Rs 5,000 crore each, while the balance Rs 10,000 crore will be released by the Centre.

Incidentally, Monday’s GR was released by the home department desk officer Jaisen Ingole and not by the urban development department as was expected.

Ingole said the state government on September 12, 2017, had given a clearance for 25 per cent share capital in the SPV.

The GR has come days after the NHSRCL invited tenders for design and construction of civil and building works, including testing and commissioning on design-build lump sum price basis for the project, including the underground station and a cut and cover tunnel at Bandra-Kurla Complex.

Further, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) recently signed a loan agreement with the Government of India to provide an official development assistance (ODA) loan of 100,000 million Japanese Yen (approx Rs 6,000 crore) as Tranche 3 for the project.

Published on: Monday, August 08, 2022, 10:31 PM IST