Upon assurance from the new government in Maharashtra, the Centre has now said it expects all pending land for the Ahmedabad-Mumbai High-Speed Rail (MAHSR) project to be acquired by the end of December this year.
News18 was the first to report on July 2 that the new government led by Eknath Shinde and Devendra Fadnavis in Maharashtra had decided to put the project back on track and give all clearances after the previous government led by Uddhav Thackeray had shown little interest in the project. About 132 hectares of land in Maharashtra is still to be acquired for the project and no work has begun in the state though work on the big project is on in full swing in Gujarat.
“The execution of Mumbai-Ahmedabad High Speed Rail (MAHSR) project is being reviewed regularly at the highest level. Out of total 1396 Ha. of land required for MAHSR project, about 90% of the land i.e. approx. 1264 Ha land has been acquired. Acquisition of 10 percent pending land and related activities is expected by December, 2022,” Union Minister of Railways and IT Ashwini Vaishnaw said in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha on Friday.
The minister, however, said the “anticipated cost increase and timeline can be ascertained only after completion of land acquisition, finalisation of all contracts and associated timelines”. Civil works across the entire 352-kilometre length of the project located in Gujarat and Dadra & Nagar Haveli have started in different phases from December 2020 and pier for 75-km in Gujarat has been completed, the minister has told the Parliament.
He said Railways and National High Speed Rail Corporation Limited are regularly following up the implementation with the state governments for expediting the pending issues for early completion of the project. So far, the final location survey and geotechnical investigation has been completed, alignment has been finalised and statutory clearances relating to wildlife, coastal regulation zone and forest clearance have been obtained in the state of Gujarat.
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