Karnataka exploring high-speed rail connectivity with Japanese help

Bangalore: Karnataka is exploring high speed rail connectivity between Bangalore — Belgaum, and Gulbarga.

Addressing a press conference to announce the Global Investors Meet (GIM) to be held during June 7-8 in Bangalore, Mr Murgesh R. Nirani, Karnataka's Minister for Large and Medium Industries, said: “During our investment road show in Japan, we invited the Japanese to invest, especially in high speed rail connectivity, and welcomed Japanese expertise in consultancy and execution of rail and road projects.”

“The high speed rail projects on public-private partnership (PPP) mode is being explored to connect Bangalore – Belgaum along the existing National Highway 4 there by linking Tumkur, Chitradurga, Davanagere, Hubli-Dharwad and Belgaum and another rail project linking Bangalore and Gulbarga,” he added.

Delegation
During the road show, the delegation met Dr Diazo Nozawa, who is associated with the first Bullet Train in Japan (since 1964) and Japan International Consultants for Transportation which provides technical consultancy for projects.

“There is a possibility of high speed connectivity between Bangalore-Belgaum, Bangalore-Gulbarga in future and this would reduce the travel time to the state capital significantly from these Tier II cities,” Mr Nirani said.

Tunnel
For better connectivity to Mangalore port from Bangalore, Hassan and Mysore, Japan International Consultants has been approached to construct a tunnel from Sakleshpur to Mangalore to avoid going up the Western Ghats.

Mr Nirani said the tunnel can reduce the travel time sharply and cut down the distance by 30 kilometres.

Japanese city
During the road show in Japan, the Karnataka delegation met Jetro officials. Mr Nirani said the Government has assured all assistance for setting up Japanese city in and around Bangalore.

Since there is huge Japanese investment in Bangalore such as Toyota Motors and now Honda Motors, the Japanese investors have approached the Government for land to develop a dedicated Japanese township.

The State is the third highest in foreign direct investment (FDI) inflow from Japan and already there is a presence of around 182 Japanese companies in Karnataka. Many Japanese companies are looking at Asia as a potential market and Karnataka is the preferred destination.

Mr Nirani said: “We have identified three locations for them and they are to come back to us for firming up the proposal.” The Karnataka government has identified land in Narsapura, Vemgal and near Tumkur.

“They have sought 500 to 1,000 acres for setting up residences, schools, hotels and recreation areas,” he added.

Peripheral ring road
Mr Nirani said preliminary talks were held with infrastructure companies to explore construction of a peripheral ring road around Bangalore.

A few Japanese companies have already built the Hyderabad Growth Corridor Limited (HGCL) in Hyderabad. We are exploring a similar one for Karnataka, he added.