First PPP station redevelopment in Madhya Pradesh

It is one of eight stations selected by the railways ministry for redevelopment & modernisation through the PPP

The Indian Railways Station Redevelopment Corporation has signed an agreement with a consortium of two private companies, selected through bidding, for modernisation of the Habibganj railway station in Madhya Pradesh.

The selected bidder is a consortium of Bansal Construction Works and Prakash Asphalting & Toll Highways (India) Ltd. The cost of station redevelopment is Rs 100 crore and the estimated cost in case of commercial development is Rs 300 crore.

Habibganj is one of the eight stations selected by the railways ministry for redevelopment and modernisation through the public-private partnership route. The others are Chandigarh, Pune, Mohali and two stations each in Delhi and Gujarat.

Ministry officials said the project would be completed in three years. "As part of our growth plans, we are looking at several new revenues streams and this is one. Apart from passenger services, we can look at commercial complexes as well on the station area," said Cabinet minister Suresh Prabhu at the agreement signing ceremony.

“The ministry would announce development of 25 more stations soon. We are expecting more private companies to come forward,” said Manoj Sinha, minister of state.

Prabhu said 400 stations had been identified and a phased plan would be made to redevelop them all, with several revenue models. “The options we are exploring are selection of private parties through bidding by zonal cells,public sector units joining hands with the railways, joint venture with states, and several agreements that we have with other partner countries such as Japan and China,” he said.

The Surat and Gandhinagar stations in Gujarat would be developed through the JV route with the state government. And, Bijwasan and Anand Vihar in Delhi would be completed by this year's end.