Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train project may defer its deadline and could be completed by December 2023

The Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet project, which is scheduled to be completed by December 2023, may fail to satisfy its deadline thanks to the coronavirus pandemic that has led to delays in opening tenders and land acquisition, officials said.

The National High Speed Rail Corporation (NHSRCL) has already acquired 63 per cent of the land for the project — about 77% land in Gujarat, 80% in Dadar Nagar Haveli and 22% in Maharashtra. Officials said there are still issues in acquiring land in areas like Palghar in Maharashtra and Navsari in Gujarat.

Last year, the corporate had floated nine civil work tenders which couldn’t be opened due to the coronavirus pandemic, officials said.

“Because of COVID we had to postpone the opening of a couple of of the tenders. it’s difficult to assess the impact of the pandemic on the project because it remains continuing. We cannot say how the pandemic will affect the project as i do not skills long it’ll last,” NHSRCL MD Achal Khare said.

Officially, the NHSRCL spokesperson maintained that the deadline for the project remained 2023.
One of the civil work contracts for construction of stations, bridges, viaducts, maintenance depots, and tunnels across the network is to the tune of Rs 20,000 crore.

Tenders for civil works for 345 kms out of 508 kms alignment, or 68 per cent of civil works, have already been floated. This includes six MAHSR stations (including one underground station in Mumbai). The works associated with utility diversion are progressing well and therefore the construction of Sabarmati passenger hub (a multi modal hub) in Sabarmati, Gujarat has also started.

The hostel building of High Speed Training Institute (which is presently getting used for COVID-19 patients) and training tracks in Vadodara also are completed.

The 508.17-kilometre long network will undergo three districts in Maharashtra (Mumbai, Thane, and Palghar) and eight districts in Gujarat (Valsad, Navsari, Surat, Bharuch, Vadodara, Anand, Kheda, and Ahmedabad).

Apart from land acquisition, another major cause for delay might be cost escalation due to a fall within the rupee against the japanese yen.