India-Japan to sign a pact for India’s first bullet train
Advertisement

Advertisement
Japanese Prime Minister Abe's Special Adviser
The first train is planned between Mumbai and Ahmedabad, cutting short the travel time from seven to two hours. A report submitted to the Indian government in July by Japan International Cooperation Agency had estimated the cost of this project at Rs 98,805 crore, and that the project would be operational by 2024.
Japan would most probably agree to finance the Rs 90,000 crore-plus railway project through a soft loan which would be charged with 0.5% interest. The repayment tenure for this loan would be of 50 years. Typically, this kind of project is financed at 1.5% interest and the tenure does not exceed 25 years.
"The rate of interest and repayment time proposed by Japan are extremely attractive for India. This has been possible only because of the push by the PMs of both the countries. We are hopeful this will also prompt other countries to go for lower interest rates for our infrastructure projects," a PMO official told ET.
Advertisement
When Indian PM Modi visited Japan last year, Abe and Modi had agreed to twin Varanasi with Kyoto, as both cities share deep cultural and historic roots. Abe is likely to visit Varanasi on 12th December.
Image source
Advertisement
A 'hole' 30 times Earth's size has spread across the sun, blasting solar winds that'll hit our planet by end of this week
A former Twitter engineer said they watched colleagues 'drop like flies' from a virtual meeting during Elon Musk's mass layoffs
Finland is offering free vacations for people to come and learn how to be happy after being named the happiest country in the world
Best water purifiers to buy in India 2023
Desk-bombing, monk mode & other emerging trends at the workplace
Crypto exchange Binance temporarily suspends all spot trading
Samsung unveils Galaxy F14 5G with 6000 mAh battery in India
Haircut on cases resolved through IBC not very encouraging, says Kotak report