‘When we started bullet trains our per capita income was lower than India’s current level’

JBIC and JICA will provide $4.5 billion in the next five years to the project,of which JICA is expected to finance $1.5 billion. Because the nature of our assistance is Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) to the government,through which various infrastructure can be created along the corridor. We are waiting for the official request from the Indian government before we decide what project to finance.

Is JICA interested in the proposed Chennai-Bangalore corridor?

An in-principle decision between the two Prime Ministers was taken about one and a half years ago to improve the inefficient infrastructure in the area and accelerate industrial growth. But this is a little different from DMIC. There are many foreign private firms,including Japanese from the auto and electricity sector located in the area,particularly in Tamil Nadu. But,as of now,there is no plan for a freight corridor or expressway and we are hoping that it would be done. Otherwise,if it is a worry for the private sector,we will finance it. The master plan is still being finalised and we will have an exact idea of the investment size in another 18 months.

After the UK,is JICA considering a cut in its annual commitment to India?

We have given 349 million Japanese Yen to India in 2011-12 though the actual spending is a little different. However,we would like to maintain this size of commitment and we believe that at least for the next five years,India will be the largest recipient of Japanese ODA. This is because first,India’s requirement in terms of infrastructure,environment and human resource development is huge. Second,some South East Asian countries are almost moving out of the ODA category like Malaysia and Thailand and soon maybe Indonesia too. Countries with less than $ 3,000 per capita income are eligible for our ODA and India is expected to qualify for it.

What are the problems in the implementation of infrastructure projects?

The typical problem that causes delay is decision making by the executing agency,including land acquisition or resettlement programme and also the procurement or bidding. For instance,finalisation of the bidding process takes a long time for DMRC and DFC. Meanwhile,state governments have their own interests and sometimes projects get affected by

local politics. So in case the state government changes,it may choose to review projects sanctioned by the previous regime.

Will you be interested in funding bullet trains in India.

The proposal for bullet trains is at an initial discussion stage and no official request has been made either to Japan or any other government. But we are very interested if we get an official request as we believe that our bullet train technology is the best in the world. I think India needs mass transit or high speed trains. The biggest potential is for the Ahmedabad to Mumbai stretch. When our government started bullet trains over 40 years ago,the per capita income of Japan at that time was lower than that of India’s current level. But our government made a decision to accelerate economic growth and it paid off.

Are you interested in financing road projects?

Mahatma Gandhi Bridge in Bihar is nearly collapsing and the state government has asked us to help repair the bridge. We have already sent in our experts,who advised it would be better to reconstruct rather than repair the bridge.