Goyal hopeful of getting enough land for bullet train project

Mumbai: Even as protests continue against the bullet train project in pockets of Maharashtra and Gujarat, railway minister Piyush Goyal on Monday exuded confidence that he does not see "any stress" in getting the land needed for the ambitious project, primarily on the increased compensation that government is offering now.

A senior government functionary also said Japan, which is almost fully funding the project with a soft loan, is increasing its funding to USD 5 billion per year from the earlier USD 3 billion.

"Environmental and social impact studies either have been completed or are near completion. I personally don't see any stress in getting the land (for the project)," Goyal told reporters here on the sidelines of the AIIB summit. He said government is not facing any resistance on land acquisition ever since it increased the compensation to four times of the market value, and stressed that in the case of the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train project, the same has been increased to five times if it is through consent.