Railways inks pact with Odisha govt to redevelop Bhubaneswar station

Indian Railways on Thursday inked a pact with Odisha government for redevelopment of Bhubaneswar railway station.

The memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the two parties was inked here in presence of Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik who joined in through a video conference from Bhubaneswar.

Railways Minister Piyush Goyal also joined via video conference.

As part of the project, area adjoining Bhubaneswar Railway station will be developed as a railway station multi modal hub (RSMH) under the Centre's smart city mission.

The hub, which would entail an investment of over Rs 800 crore, will have a new terminal building for the railway station, city bus terminal, car parking and other allied public utilities.

The tendering process for the project is expected to begin in March next year and the actual work is slated to start in August 2020.

Both the parties expect the public infrastructure component of the project to be completed in 30 months, while the mixed use real estate component is expected to take 48 months to complete.

The public infrastructure facilities like new terminal building and city bus terminal will be developed under EPC/PPP model entailing an investment of around Rs 300 crore. On the other hand the mixed use retail part would come under the PPP model and entail an investment of around Rs 540 crore.