In a bid to redevelop 600 railway stations across India, the national carrier has come up with a plan to include private players in the process. As per the stations redevelopment plan, 25-30 per cent of the construction work will be done by the railways and then the station will be given to the highest bidder for completion, development and other operation on a lease of 99 years, according to an Indian Express report. Also, the railway ministry plans to allow residential use of its land around the stations, apart from commercial use. Rs 3,300 crore has been sanctioned by the government to start the initial redevelopment process. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley announced the redevelopment of 600 stations in Union Budget 2018, which was presented on February 1.
According to some sources, the recommendation has already been sent to the Cabinet for its approval and the matter is likely to be discussed in the next Cabinet meeting. If the recommendation is accepted then construction work across the railways stations will begin. The report states that in the first phase of station redevelopment, 130 stations will be taken up by Indian Railway Station Development Corporation (IRSDC) and zonal units. The IRSDC will work on 10 types of designs, which will be imitated in all the railway stations.
The main station facilities will be redeveloped by the IRSDC and Divisional Railway Managers, as per the plan. Further to that, the station, along with its land parcels will be given up for bidding. Since, the redevelopment of 600 railway stations is estimated to cost over Rs 1 lakh crore, IRSDC will tap into market sources for the funding of the redevelopment project. The redevelopment work across the railway stations is likely to start in the next few months, said some sources.
According to a senior railway official, in case the station does not find a bidder even after half of its construction, then IRSDC will have the authority to complete the project and take over the operation of the station and earn through it, stated the report. Since railway minister Piyush Goyal came up with a new strategy to successfully complete the redevelopment project, the railway ministry devised the new model, following discussions with infrastructure and real estate majors like Shapoorji Pallonji Group, DLF, Reliance Infra, Hiranandani Developers and GMR Group. Meanwhile, the railway ministry has also discussed the matter with architect Hafeez Contractor.
The new bidding model is in addition to the existing model, where the bidding out stations to private developers is on “as is where is” basis. Bhopal’s Habibganj remains last and the only railway station till now, that was successfully bid out to a private player, Bansal group. The local developer will develop and operate the station for eight years and will get the lease for 45 years for the development of four adjacent land parcels. In addition to this, the Jammu and Kozhikode railway stations, have also been put up for the bidding.