China keen to invest in Indian railways, will set up industrial parks in Pune, Ahmedabad

Coimbatore: China is keen to invest in Indian railway sector, which is in dire need of modernisation, a top Chinese Diplomat said on Tuesday.

“It (Indian Railways) is too old and renovation is badly needed. China is seeking entry of its firms in developing high-speed trains,” Liu Youfa, Chinese Consular General in Mumbai, said.

“We have accumulated construction capability. We also have the capacity to finance (projects). Eventually, Chinese companies would participate in bullet trains (project) as well,” Youfa told reporters in an informal chat here.

[caption id=“attachment_75893” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. Reuters[/caption]

The remarks assume significance as it comes a day after Japan expressed its willingness in providing India financial, technical and operational support to introduce Bullet trains, a project that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been actively pursuing.

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Japan had also announced doubling of private and public investment in India to about $35 billion over the next five years during talks between Modi and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

The two-way trade between China and India stood at $56 billion and the huge trade imbalance in favour of China was turning out to be a major issue, the diplomat said.

“China takes all the credit (for trade surplus). But 70 per cent of China’s exports are controlled by FDI owners. China is trying to address the issue by encouraging two-wayinvestments and joint production ventures,” he said.

China will set up two industrial parks in India – one at Pune in Maharashtra and another near Ahmedabad in Gujarat, in an area of about six sq.km and 10 sq km, respectively.

The Ahmedabad park would focus on power transmission and generation equipment manufacturing, while Pune Park, to be completed in three stages, on automobiles and ancillaries and witness an investment of $500 million, he said.

Youfa, along with three-member delegation to explore the opportunity in textile sector in the region, said China would invest $5 billion in Pune Park but declined to elaborate on investment details in Ahmedabad.

“The park would be a smart city amd would have banks, hotels, schools, recreational centres and all facilities and would ultimately employ one lakh persons and generate billions of dollars in revenues,” he said.

PTI