Union Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu unveiled the first phase of the ambitious Station Redevelopment Programme. It is the world’s largest transit-oriented development programme ever executed.
As part this programme, tenders are being floated for 23 of a total of the total 400 A1 and A category stations selected re-developing in the first phase.
Stations being modernised in 1st phase: Lokmanya Tilak, Pune, Visakhapatnam, Thane,Howrah, Faridabad, Jammu Tawi, Kamakhya, Secunderabad, Udaipur City, Vijaywada, Chennai Central, Ranchi, Kozhikode, Bangalore Cantt, Yesvantpur, Bhopal, Mumbai Central, Bandra Terminus, Borivali and Indore.
Key Facts
- Station Redevelopment Programme is the biggest non-fare revenue generating programme being undertaken by Indian Railways.
- Financial Model of the programme: It will be executed in a public-private-partnership (PPP) model through a fair bidding system.
- Government will not incur any expenditure as the developer will be rebuilding the railway stations and maintaining it for 15 years.
- In return, the developer would be granted 45 years’ leasing rights for the commercial properties developed at these stations. These properties could be hotels, malls, hospitals, among others.
- Selection Process: These stations will be awarded to private developers under the so-called Swiss challenge method. It involves inviting proposal online and allowing rival bidders to beat that proposal.
- Amenities at Revamped stations: escalators, elevators, digital signage, self-ticketing counters, executive lounges, walkways, luggage screening machines, free and paid WiFi, etc.
- Commercial potential of the vacant Railway land at and near the stations will be leveraged to develop world-class stations.
Significance
The entire programme is estimated to attract investment of upto Rs 1 lakh crore from the developers. It will help Railways will generate a surplus of Rs 10,000 crore which can be invested in other modernisation programmes. Most of the pension funds in the world and a multilateral agency like World Bank are keen to participate in this project. It will benefit more than 100 cities and 16 million passengers per day across the country.