IIT Kanpur alumni Sanjeev Sinha appointed as advisor for Ahmedabad-Mumbai bullet train

Pic courtesy: http://sanjeevsinha.com/

New Delhi: Japan Railways has appointed Sanjeev Sinha as Advisor for project of Ahmadabad-Mumbai High Speed Rail.

The project, estimated to cost about Rs 1 lakh crore, is largely funded by low cost financing from Japan. It is planned to be built based on Japanese technology as well.

The ground-breaking ceremony for the project is planned in Ahmadabad on September 14 in presence of the Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

In a telephonic conversation with Economic Times, Sinha said, "I will be the interface between the two governments. This is a prestigious project but extremely complex. Converting the political will into actual execution will take a lot of effort."

"With an interest rate of negligible 0.1 percent over an exceptionally long 50 years term and a no-repayment moratorium for first 15 years, the funding from Japan for the High Speed Rail, called Shinkansen in Japan, is almost like a grant based on standard financial valuation calculations", Sinha had earlier said.

Sinha, hailing from Barmer Rajasthan in relative proximity to Ahmedabad, is a graduate of IIT Kanpur. He is a prominent Indian resident of Japan for 21 years.

He has worked with Goldman Sachs, Mizuho Securities, UBS Investment Bank and as Chief Country Representative in Japan for Tata Asset Management and Tata Realty and Infrastructure, a private equity fund.