The Rail Land Development Authority (RLDA) will invite companies to submit bids and proposals for the redevelopment of the New Delhi railway station in a fortnight, senior RLDA officials said.
“We expect cabinet approval for the New Delhi railway station (redevelopment) to come through in the next couple of weeks, after which we will invite bids for the project,” one of the officials told Moneycontrol.
The Rs 4,500-crore project was sent to the Union Cabinet earlier this month for approval.
RLDA has been in talks with around 10-15 domestic and international developers who have already qualified to bid for the redevelopment and have presented parts of their plans to the Authority.
Adani Railways Transport Ltd, Kalpataru Power Transmission Ltd, GMR Highways Ltd, Arabian Construction Company, Omaxe Ltd and Elpis Ventures Pvt Ltd, BIF IV India Infrastructure Holding Pvt Ltd, ISQ Asia Infrastructure Investments Pte Ltd and Anchorage Infrastructure Investments Holdings Ltd have all qualified to bid for the New Delhi station redevelopment project, a second RLDA official said.
RLDA officials expect the project to begin as soon as May once final approvals are received.
Indian Railways expects to make a profit of around Rs 15-20 crore a year from the commercial space that will be created at the railway station once the redevelopment is completed.
“Commercial developments such as a retail space, hypermarket, or budget hotel will be the first of its kind on the site and boost the site's real estate, tourism, and investment prospects,” one of the RLDA officials said.
The redevelopment of the New Delhi railway station includes increasing the station’s passenger handling capacity from 200 million passengers annually to around 250-300 million passengers, a senior official from the Ministry of Railways said.
The redevelopment of India’s largest railway station is expected to take around four years, after which the station will be able to handle around 1 million passengers daily, from the 500,000 passengers it handles at peak hours currently.
The station is now proposed to be redeveloped for a total built-up area of 4 million square feet, including commercial area of 980,000 square feet.
As part of the project, the government is looking to building a new elevated concourse, renovation of 16 platforms, refurbishing existing station buildings and the development of associated infrastructure.
The redeveloped New Delhi station will also have direct metro rail connectivity and will also have an elevated access road network, multi-level car parking, railway offices, housing and social infrastructure.
