Land acquisition could be a major challenge for bullet train

The land acquisition is expected to be completed within one-and-a-half years

Acquiring 825 hectares of land may become a major hurdle for the completing the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train project by 2022.

Experts said advancing the project’s deadline by a year to August 2022 may not be feasible considering the complex land acquisition process involved. 

Of the Rs 1.10 lakh crore investment required for the project, Japan is providing Rs 88,000 crore as a soft loan at 0.01 per cent interest. However, release of the Japanese funding is linked to land acquisition.

“We are expecting land acquisition to be completed within one-and-a-half years. Japan has provided Rs 6,000 crore as the first tranche of the