Adani, GMR in fray to commercially redevelop Chandigarh railway station

At least seven companies, including Adani Group and GMR, are bidding for the contract to commercially redevelop the Chandigarh railway station. The expected investment is Rs 700 crore. 

Earlier this year, Adani and GMR had locked horns in airport lease bidding. The former emerged as highest bidder for six Airports Authority of India (AAI)-run airports offered for privatisation — Lucknow, Mangaluru, Guwahati, Ahmedabad, Thiruvananthapuram and Jaipur.

At present, other firms in the fray for Chandigarh railway station are Kalpataru, Montecarlo, DMIA, Agarwal Plaza and Prozon. A source said these entities had shown interest in the Request for Quotation stage. Bids might be finalised in a month. “The interest came after the Union Cabinet increased the lease period for station redevelopment from 45 years to 99 years, to attract more investors,” he said.

The bidding for Chandigarh is part of a Rs 1 trillion station redevelopment programme of the central government. The stated aim is to redevelop 600 stations. 

Last November, the government had told Indian Railway Stations Development Corporation (IRSDC) to conduct techno-economic feasibility studies at all the 8,600 stations. Early this month, an empowered group of secretaries was formed to push the redevelopment plan in a time-bound manner. This was after Amitabh Kant, chief executive officer of NITI Aayog, criticised the slow progress. 

In Chandigarh, around 2.5 million sq ft of built-up area will be available for commercial development. Of this, 30 per cent will be given for housing, with 15 per cent allotted to economically weaker sections. “The major advantage for corporates will be the mixed-use development, including building of residential apartments within the station premises. In addition, the projects are being given infrastructure status, for (easier) lending from banks,” he added.

Chandigarh, along with Anand Vihar in Delhi, Secunderabad, Pune and Bangalore City, are the five rail stations recently selected to be operated and maintained by IRSDC. It recently said about 50 stations were likely to be taken up for redevelopment in three years. The combined investment could be Rs 10,000 to Rs 20,000 crore, depending on the extent of commercial development around these stations. The empowered group of secretaries is likely to facilitate the hastening of clearances in this regard.