New Railways Proposal To Develop Unused Land

The railway ministry has sent a fresh proposal to the government seeking permission to construct commercial complexes on unused urban land owned by it on a case-to-case basis.

The ministry is seeking permission for the purpose on a case-by-case basis because the issue has been hanging fire for a long time. The railways considers it a vital matter in terms of internal resource mobilisation.

Top officials of the railways say it is difficult to estimate accurately the revenue that would accrue from development of unused urban land since the real estate market is highly volatile. However, they expect a minimum one-time revenue of Rs 1,500 crore if permission to exploit the unused lands comes through even selectively.

 

Even this additional earning could be a substantial amount keeping in view the size of the budgetary support for the current financial years plan outlay. Railway Board chairman M Ravindra says commercial exploitation of unused lands could be a source of additional revenue.