Japan Pledges Rs 20,675 Crore To India; Big Push To Mumbai-Ahmedabad High Speed Rail.

Japan has pledged to provide loan provision of up to 316.458 billion yen, approximately Rs 20,674.201 crore for in the presence of Mr. Shinzo Abe, Prime Minister of Japan and PM Narendra Modi, in Tokyo following the Japan-India Summit Meeting.

PM Modi  is in Japan for his fifth bilateral summit with his counterpart Shinzo Abe. The visit is characterized by the special strategic and global partnership with Japan and by the personal relationship that the Prime Minister has evolved with his counterpart Prime Minister Abe of Japan. 

Bonhomie is evident for the fact that besides the five annual summits, there are six other occasions on which they have met in the sidelines of international and multilateral meeting. So, they have already met a total of 11 times in the past four and a half years and this will be the 12th such meeting. 

The exchanged notes concerning the provision of yen loan related to seven projects including the Project for the Construction of Mumbai-Ahmedabad High Speed Rail.

Overview of the loans to various projects:

Loan up to 150 billion yen, approximately Rs 9,799.5 crore is allocated  for the Construction of Mumbai-Ahmedabad High Speed Rail.

 "Loan to construct a high-speed rail with the introduction of the Shinkansen system of Japan, a flagship project represent the 'new era in Japan-India relations,"' government of Japan said in a statement in Tokyo after exchanging the notes. The notes were exchanged between Ambassador of Japan, Kenji Hiramatsu and his Indian counterpart Sujan R. Chinoy.

This project is to provide a loan to the Government of India for the construction of a high speed rail with the introduction of Japan’s Shinkansen system between Mumbai in Maharashtra and Ahmedabad in Gujarat. It is expected that the new high speed train will be able to travel that distance in two hours, compared with the seven hours required by the current express train service for the distance of 500 kilometers between Mumbai and Ahmedabad. 

Renovate a hydroelectric power station to contribute to the promotion of renewable energy in Meghalaya:

 Loan up to 5.497 billion yen, approximately Rs 359.119 crore has been earmarked for carrying out renovation of two units of the Umiam-Umtru stage-III hydroelectric power station in the river basin of he Umiam River and Umtru River. 

Delhi Mass Rapid Transport System Project (Phase 3): 

Loan up to 54 billion yen, approximately Rs 3,507 crore has been allotted to extend and expand the Delhi Metro network, a representative example of Japan’s economic cooperation in India.

This project is to provide a loan to the Government of India for the construction of approximately 116 kilometers metro system in the capital city of Delhi. It is expected that the daily passengers of the entire Delhi Metro will increase from approximately 1.9 million people at the groundbreaking of phase 3 of the project (2012) to approximately 2.7 million.

Loan to construct a bridge in India’s North Eastern Region to contribute to enhancing connectivity: 

Loan up to 26 billion yen, approximately Rs 1,665 crore has been assigned  for the construction of a bridge connecting Dhubri in Assam and Phulbari in Meghalaya (total length of approximately 20 kilometers). It is expected that approximately 2.95 million people will use the bridge annually and the traveling time will be reduce from approximately 8 hours 13 minutes of the alternative route to approximately 23 minutes in 2030 (two years after the project is completed).

Loan to construct a pumped storage power station to contribute to the promotion of renewable energy in West Bengal:

loan up to 29 billion yen, approximately Rs 1,924 crore will be provided for the construction of a pumped storage power station in Purulia of West Bengal. It is expected that the annual power generation amount could rise to 1,803 gigawatt hours in 2029 (two years after the project is completed), which is equivalent to the annual electricity usage amount of approximately 2.8 million households. 

Loan to construct a peripheral ring road around Chennai metropolitan area:

Loan up to 41 billion yen, approximately Rs 2,619 crore is assigned for the construction of the section of an access road to Ennore Port (organized into the main line and a branch line) in the northern part of Chennai in Tamil Nadu as part of the peripheral ring road (approximately 133 kilometers). It is expected that the traveling time required for the

Loan for tree-planting activities in Tripura: 

Loan up to 13 billion yen, approximately INR 803 crore has been provided  for sustainable forest management, water and soil conservation activities and livelihood enhancement activities in Tripura. It is expected that the quality of the area forests will increase thorough the participation of approximately 23,000 local residents and personnel from executing agency, and forestation on approximately 42,000 hectares.