Adani, GMR among firms keen on revamping Nellore, Tirupati railway stations

A number of prominent companies including GMR, Adani group, Oberoi, Ambience, Godrej Properties, Reliance Infra, Sobha, Brigade, Embassy group among others took part in pre-bid meetings for the redevelopment of railway stations in Tirupati and Nellore. The estimated cost of the redevelopment is about Rs 640 crore for both railway stations combined.

Rail Land Development Authority (RLDA) conducted online pre-bid meetings for the redevelopment of these stations to make Tirupati and Nellore multi-modal transit hubs with state-of-the-art amenities such as ramps and elevators. The contracts are scheduled to be awarded by June 2020. RLDA is the nodal agency for redevelopment of railway stations across the Indian Railway network.

Both stations will be redeveloped in PPP mode and based on the design, build, finance, operate transfer (DBFOT) model. They will have operational areas like administrative, technical, security and station operation staff areas besides world-class amenities for passengers such as shopping, hospitality, food court, cloakroom, dormitaries, and executive lounges. The Tirupati railway station is targeted to be redeveloped in three years.

"Amid the Covid-19-induced lockdown, we conducted online pre-bid meetings for both Nellore an Tirupati successfully. This in line with our commitment to ensure seamless operations during this unprecedented time. we have also started opening online tenders as well," RLDA vice chairman Ved Parkash Dudeja said. The proposed redevelopment of these stations will facilitate commercial development, generate employment, and boost tourism potential of both the cities, Dudeja added.

The concession period for both projects is 60 years. While Tirupati, the abode of Lord Balaji, is one of the busiest stations in Andhra Pradesh with millions of pilgrims coming for darshan every  year, Nellore is well-connected with the southern and eastern parts of India through Chennai-Howrah Railway line.

16:51 14-05-202016:51 14-05-2020