2022 has been a turning point in the development of Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train project, says JICA’s Chief India Representative SAITO Mitsunori
NEW DELHI:
Japan International Cooperation Agency (
JICA) has been the foremost institution, which has cemented the bilateral relationship between India and
Japan. As both the countries commemorate 70 years of bilateral relations, JICA, which has been providing Official Development Assistance including Loan, Grant Aid and Technical Cooperation, especially in the infrastructure sector, aims to continue and expand its support for several projects that contribute to the development of India.
In an interview to ET Infra,
SAITO Mitsunori, Chief Representative of JICA India Office, talked about the progress of ongoing infrastructure projects in India wherein JICA is playing a significant role as development assistance provider via loan as well as through technical support.
The most high-profile of JICA’s ongoing engagement in India’s infrastructure sector is the Mumbai–Ahmedabad
High Speed Rail Project. Mitsunori outlined that 2022 has been the turnaround year for the ambitious project, especially in Maharashtra, where the project had faced land acquisition challenges.
“It (land acquisition issue) has almost gone away.” said SAITO Mitsunori
“So definitely sometime next year, physical work will start in the Maharashtra section as well. So, I think 2022 is definitely a turning point in terms of work in Maharashtra,” he added.
JICA has so far committed 340 billion Yen or approximately Rs. 18,954 crores for the bullet train project and is expected to commit more as the project progresses onto its next phases.
“The scale of the project is something JICA has never seen in the world as well. We have been working in the railway sector in the Philippines, Indonesia, Bangladesh but this bullet train (project) is by far the largest,” he said.
METRO PROJECTS
For JICA, challenges associated with land acquisition for infrastructure projects in India are nothing new. It first faced such hurdles with the Kolkata Metro in the 1980’s.
“So, first Metro JICA supported was the one in Kolkata North-South line but then due to various reasons the implementation period was delayed and it took more than two decades to complete the works,” said SAITO Mitsunori
"Political environment in the 80’s and 90’s was different from now, there was delay in awarding contracts, delays in land acquisition, many coordination issues among contractors as well as various authorities within Indian sides,” he added.
But the successful execution of the Delhi Metro project allayed those challenges.
“Our support to Delhi Metro under phase one turned out to be very successful and works got completed within the time schedule or even before,” said SAITO Mitsunori.
“So, what was the difference? From what we know, from our history and files, there are so many differences compared to our previous challenges. If we would say, one is a strong leadership and commitment of Delhi Metro Rail Corporation. Everybody from the managing director to engineers on the ground, they were very much committed or even obsessed with meeting the deadlines,” he said
For the ongoing construction of Phase IV of Delhi Metro, JICA’s financial commitment is at 119.98 billion Yen or about Rs 6,688 crores.
JICA, which also has been involved in the development of metro projects in Chennai, Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Kolkata and Bengaluru, is now in discussion for undertaking metro projects in a couple of more cities.
“In consultation with the Indian government, but we are very keen to take up more cities,” said SAITO Mitsunori.
NORTH-EAST INDIA CONNECTIVITY
Japan’s engagement in infrastructure projects in the North-East of India is embedded with the country's foreign policy objective to promote ‘Free and Open Indo-Pacific (FOIP)’ which is said to be first conceptualized by former and late Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. JICA is undertaking several projects in the region in order to further the foreign policy objective of the Japanese government
A key undertaking in the region is the ‘North East Road Network Connectivity Improvement Project’.
“So the idea is basically, to connect this region to the neighboring area to kind of emancipate its geographical potential,” said SAITO Mitsunori.
The project includes upgradation and expansion of several road routes, such as from Shillong in Meghalaya and Southern Tripura to the Bangladesh border, construction of a 20 km Dhubri-Phulbari bridge across the Brahmaputra, among others.
“So we are supporting vigorously for improving internal and external connectivity in the North East,” said SAITO Mitsunori. Financial commitment for the road network connectivity project in the region from JICA has so far been at 184.66 billion Yen or about Rs 10,294 crores
PRIVATE SECTOR INVESTMENT & FINANCE
While JICA’s traditional role has been to provide official development assistance and technical support to Indian government or government backed entities, of late it is opening up to investment support to the private sector.
Such investments include support for micro, small and medium enterprises, affordable housing, climate change management projects as well as support for start-ups.
“So far we very much depend on sovereign lending, but we also have a private lending window. We can lend money or we can make investments in private entities, Indian or Indian companies or sometimes Japanese companies working in India,” said SAITO Mitsunori.
JICA has undertaken financial support of $4 million for start-ups under DX Start-ups Investment Project operated by venture capital firm Rebright Partners.
SAITO Mitsunori highlighted that official development assistance through lending will continue to remain the dominant modality of engagement with India.
JICA’s official development assistance through loan disbursement for India in 2021-22 (Apr-Mar) was 328,402 million Yen, which is about Rs. 18,307 crores
Saito Mitsunori: The most high-profile of JICA’s ongoing engagement in India’s infrastructure sector is the Mumbai–Ahmedabad High Speed Rail Project. Mitsunori outlined that 2022 has been the turnaround year for the ambitious project, especially in Maharashtra, where the project had faced land...
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already progressing at fast rate.... by L&T [covered under c4 contract-250km viaduct]
