Abe visit might roll out bullet train proposal

One of India's biggest investments in the railways sector, the Rs 90,000-crore Ahmedabad-Mumbai bullet train project, might be finalised during the three-day visit of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, starting Friday. The contours of the deal were being finalised with inputs from the NITI Aayog, sources said.

Officials said NITI Aayog was found to be the most appropriate organisation to study the proposal because of the huge cost. "Only after NITI cleared the project did the Prime Minister's Office give a formal nod to the Japanese," an official said. India and Japan might also strengthen their defence cooperation during Abe's visit. The two sides could ink an agreement to jointly produce amphibious military aircraft, the Japanese US2.

Japan might also announce support for the Smart City project.

China, which was also in the race for the project, played down Japan winning the contract to build India's first bullet train project and said the deal was confined to one sector. Beijing said India was still open to Chinese investments on other high-speed routes, depending on easy financing. NITI Aayog Vice-Chairman Arvind Panagariya had during his visit to Beijing said Chinese infrastructure financing was far more expensive than Japan's and Beijing should match the terms, Press Trust of India had reported.