Eight parties show interest to develop rly stn

Nagpur: The Indian Railway Station Development Corporation Limited (IRSDC), an arm of Indian Railways, on Friday opened request for qualification (RFQ) applications for redevelopment of Nagpur, Gwalior, Amritsar and Sabarmati railway stations.
“Despite Covid-19, there is overwhelming response from bidders. Of the 32 applications, 8 were for Nagpur,” said deputy general manager of ISRDC PS Uttarwar.
IRSDC is a joint venture company of RLDA & IRCON with 50:50 ownership. RITES is also likely to join shortly as another promoter with 24% equity so that RITES and IRCON shall jointly hold 50% equity.
IRSDC is transforming country’s railway stations into world-class. These redeveloped hubs will be called as ‘Railopolis’, as it will attract huge investment and business opportunities.
“With application of form-based codes developed by IRSDC, the availability of public area in Railopolis shall increase thus making such redeveloped railway stations as true city centres,” Uttarwar said.
IRSDC had invited RFQ for these 4 stations in December 2019. Some of the parties who applied include JKB, GMR, ISQ Capital, Kalpataru, FairFax/Anchorage, Monte Carlo, GR Infrastructure, Kalyan Toll and Cube Construction.
Out of the 32, 9 applications have been received for Sabarmati station (Ahmedabad). The total indicative cost for redevelopment of these four stations is about Rs 1,300 crore. The total built up area (BUA) allowed for commercial development is 54 lakh sqft.
“No land use change and prior environmental clearance is required for these projects as these are railway projects under Railway Act 1989. IRSDC is the nodal agency for redevelopment of stations,” said Uttarwar.
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 the government for PPP projects.
After shortlisting the applicants, now request for proposal (RFP) will be called in which bids will be submitted by the bidders. It is likely that the work will start soon in all the four projects.