Advertisement
Addressing an event of the business community in poll- bound Gujarat, the Congress leader claimed the project will not benefit either 6.5 crore people of the state or the nation, adding “Gujarati entrepreneurs know very well that if a deal is too good to be true, it probably is not”.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe had in September laid the foundation stone for India’s first high speed rail project between Mumbai and Ahmedabad. The joint venture between Indian Railways and Japan’s Shinkansen Technology is expected to be completed by 2022.
India’s first bullet train will connect Ahmedabad, the largest city in Gujarat, to Mumbai, cutting travel time from seven hours to less than three. Modi had said that Japan gave a loan of Rs 88,000 crore at 0.1 per cent interest for the project. “The bullet train project, launched with much fanfare, is sadly an exercise in vanity and will not benefit either 6.5 crore Gujaratis or the nation,” Singh said here.
Related Articles
Advertisement
“The past year has seen the highest number of deaths due to derailments in more than a decade, but the government’s priority are misplaced,” Singh said. He wondered if the prime minister considered the alternative of introducing high speed rail across India by upgrading the existing broad gauge infrastructure. Singh said the UPA government had in 2005 signed a deal with the Japanese government for a dedicated freight corridor.
“(The dedicated freight corridor) project will create a multiplier effect on the economy, with upgradation of transportation technology, increase in productivity and reduction in unit transportation cost,” he said.