Indian Railways to offer 5 million sq ft commercial space under the redevelopment plan of four stations

NEW DELHI: Indian Railway will offer over five million square feet of commercial space at Gwalior, Nagpur, Amritsar and Sabarmati railway stations under the redevelopment plan.
The Indian Railway Stations Development Corporation Ltd. (IRSDC), opened the RFQ applications of these four railway stations on Friday.

IRSDC said that it has received response from developers and fund houses despite the current COVID19 scenario. In total, IRSDC has received 32 successful applications. JKB, GMR, ISQ Capital, Kalpataru, FairFax/Anchorage, Monte Carlo, GR Infrastructure, Kalyan Toll, Cube Construction are some of the applicants.

Indian Railway plans to transform country’s railway stations into world-class 24x7 hubs under the redevelopment plan. These redeveloped hubs will be called as ‘Railopolis’, and are expected to attract huge investment and business opportunities.

Out of the 32 applications, nine applications have been received for Sabarmati station in Ahmedabad.

The total indicative cost for redevelopment of the four stations is about Rs 1300 crore. The total built up area (BUA) allowed for commercial development is 54 lakh sq. ft. No land use change and prior environmental clearance is required for these projects as these are Railway projects under Railway Act 1989.

The above four Projects hold distinction of being the first railway projects to have in principle approval of Public Private Partnership Appraisal Committee (PPPAC), formed by GOI for PPP projects. These four stations are also the first ones to have provision of pre-determined user charges on passengers and visitors as one of the main revenue stream for the concessionaire of the redeveloped stations.

After shortlisting the applicants, Request for Proposal will be called in which bids will be submitted by the bidders.