Blame it on the delays due to COVID-19 pandemic or land acquisition, the cost of the country's first 'high-speed rail' or bullet train between Ahmedabad and Mumbai is likely to soar past Rs 1.6 lakh crore, excluding GST, The Times of India reported on July 30. A feasibility study conducted in 2015 estimated the cost at Rs 1.08 lakh crore.
Moneycontrol could not independently verify the news report.
While sources told TOI that the price rise is a given due to increased expenditure on land acquisition, rise in prices of cement, steel and other raw materials, the National High-Speed Rail Corporation Limited (NHSRCL) maintained that the revised cost could be arrived at only "after the award of all the contracts and completion of land acquisition," the report said.
Launched in September 2017, the 508km project was initially scheduled to be completed by 2022. Reportedly, the 100 percent land has been acquired only in Dadra and Nagar. Maharashtra's land acquisition rate is around 73%, while in Gujarat it stands around 98.9%. According to the Centre, delays in land acquisition in Maharashtra have slowed progress on the project, the report said.
Officials admitted that there had been some delay in land acquisition in Gujarat, but those issues had been tackled, the report added.
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