The India-Japan summit between prime ministers Modi and Shinzo Abe would have been an important forum to reassure the Japanese side. But the summit was cancelled due to protests over CAA. (File Photo)

Things aren't going as planned for the $22 billion (Rs 1.57 lakh crore) High Speed Rail Corridor connecting Mumbai and Ahmedabad. The project, using Japanese-built Shinkansen bullet trains, promises to slash travel times between the two cities from eight hours to under three. It has a completion date of 2022 but seems to have hit yet another roadblock after what has been a tough year, what with the Indo-Japan summit being postponed and a new, non-BJP government taking over in Maharashtra. Sources say Prime Minister Narendra Modi's marquee project will, in all likelihood, miss even its original 2023-end deadline now (it was advanced to 2022 later).

"Work has not stopped," say officials associated with the project. Meetings and discussions on the way forward for the mammoth project continue. But the pace has certainly slackened. As for primary issues like land acquisition, about 39 per cent of the1,380 hectares earmarked has been acquired. Tenders for stations in Gujarat, such as Bilimora, Surat and Bharuch, have been floated and the construction of the Sabarmati rail hub in Ahmedabad, to be linked to the bullet train station, has started. Staff training has also begun.

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The project hit two major speedbreakers in the past few months. The BJP's failure to return to power in Maharashtra has certainly been a damper. The Shiv Sena, which heads the three-party coalition government in the state, has never been too enthusiastic about the bullet train project. Indeed, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray said in December 2019 that the state would "review the project". Sources say there are now concerns in Japan that the new government could create obstacles for the project. The annual India-Japan summit between prime ministers Modi and Shinzo Abe in December would have been an important forum to reassure the Japanese side. But the summit, which was to happen in Guwahati in December, was cancelled due to the massive protests over the Citizenship (Amendment) Act or CAA in the state. There is no word yet when it will happen now. The Japanese are said to be quite unsettled about the uncertainties over the project.

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Japan is bringing its Shinkansen (literally 'new trunk line') technology to India. The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) is providing a loan covering 81 per cent of the cost at an interest rate of 0.1 per cent per annum with repayment due over 50 years. The remaining costs are to be shared between the governments of Gujarat and Maharashtra.

Another damper for the Japanese side has been India walking out of the proposed Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Trade Pact RCEP free trade agreement (FTA) between the 10 member states of ASEAN and its six FTA partners, which includes China, Japan, India, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand.

One of several questions weighing on the minds of the Japanese investors is how long the social unrest in the country over the controversial CAA and NRC (National Register of Citizens) is likely to continue. If it is prolonged, it could hurt India's prospects as an investment destination. The lack of assurances, especially in such politically charged times, is only adding to their frustration.

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