British billionaire Richard Branson on Wednesday said he will meet Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray to clear “misunderstandings” and to gauge the new administrations interest in the $10 billion Mumbai-Pune Hyperloop project.
The entire cost of the project will be borne by the private sector and it will not depend on any funding from the State, Mr. Branson said.
“It is just a courtesy call (with Mr. Thackeray) and also to ensure that any misunderstandings regarding the project are cleared,” Mr. Branson told reporters. “We just need to see whether the new government is as keen as the old government (on the project).”
Mr. Branson said engineers at the group’s hyperloop facility in Las Vegas are working on the project, and that they are ready to “get going quite soon” with the Mumbai-Pune project.
Mr. Branson’s Virgin Hyperloop One project was announced when Devendra Fadnavis was the Chief Minister.
The Fadnavis government had accorded infrastructure to the Mumbai-Pune hyperloop project that seeks to reduce travel time between the two cities to just 23 minutes.
Hyperloop is the name given to a technology wherein vacuum is used to transport people very fast. The technology is yet to be commercially launched and multiple companies are working on it.
