Rs 1.18 Trillion high-speed rail project to begin in less than a year

Mumbai: Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy has said that work on the state's ambitious high speed rail corridor project, involving an investment of a whopping Rs 1.18 trillion, will begin from April next year.

The first phase of the project, connecting the state capital with Kochi, will hopefully be over by March 2018, he said.

"We are hopeful of beginning construction work on this big-ticket project by April 2013 and the first phase, linking political capital Thiruvananthapuram with the commercial hub Kochi will be over by March 2018. This stretch will cost around Rs 40,000 crore, excluding the land cost, which comes at a big premium in the state," Chandy told reporters.

He was here to launch the roadshow to showcase the forthcoming 'Emerging Kerala 2012' global investor meet. The biennial Emerging Kerala 2012, to be held from September 12 to September 14 in Kochi, seeks to review Kerala's hugely successful social development model to see how it can be leveraged to achieve sustainable economic growth.

The second phase of the Rs 1.18-trillion high speed rail corridor will connect Kochi with Udupi in Karnataka and is expected to be over by March 2020, Kerala High Speed Rail Corporation Chairman and Managing Director T Balakrishnan said.

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The project will be equally owned by the State and the Centre, Balakrishnan said, adding that the Mangalore-Udupi sector will be owned by Karnataka and the Centre.

When asked about the funding, Mr Chandy told PTI that 80 per cent of cost will be debt-funded and he is keen on getting Japanese developmental fund under the JICA (Japanese International Cooperation Agency) soft loan route.

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On whether he is open to parting some equity with the Japanese in the project for which Japanese technology will be used, Mr Chandy said, "A call on that will have to be taken at the policy level. As of now, it will be a 50:50 venture between the state and the Centre."