An MoU was signed between Rail Land Development Authority (RLDA), an institution under Ministry of Railways and National Building Construction Corporation (NBCC), a PSU of Ministry of Urban Development for implementation of station redevelopment projects for 10 identified stations in partnership with respective Smart Cities.
10 Selected railway stations are: Delhi Sarai Rohilla, Lucknow, Gomtinagar, Kota, Tirupati, Nellore, Ernakulam, Puducherry, Madgaon and Thane New Stations.
Indian Railways has taken up this ambitious program of station redevelopment in a big way and have adopted multi pronged strategy to accomplish this mammoth task. It has chosen PPP model and are roping in varied agencies to execute the project namely Railways’ own PSUs.
Once the stations are redeveloped, the passengers will get facilities of world standard.
As per the MoU, a Special Purpose Vehicle will be formed at the national level as a Joint Venture between RLDA and NBCC on 50 : 50 share holding basis. The SPV in turn will enter into City Support Agreements with respective cities. The redevelopment of stations and commercial development on Railway land will be done in alignment with the Smart City Plans of respective cities.
RLDA will lease out the land to the SPV at a nominal token cost for development for a fixed lease period of up to 45 years and NBCC will execute the project work on behalf of the SPV as Project Management Consultant. Earnings from the commercial development of land parcels at stations will be utilized to redevelop the stations for creating better passenger amenities and necessary infrastructure and the surplus earnings will go to RLDA which would in turn would be remitted to Zonal railways.
NBCC shall use its expertise in preparing DPR of the Project and business model.
RLDA shall extend necessary help to NBCC in arranging all requisite data pertaining to the stations and get the vacant land entrusted from Ministry of Railway as per approved master plan of the station.
The JV of NBCC and RLDA shall also enter into city support agreement with the respective Smart City Authorities and local bodies to obtain support relating to development of approach infrastructure and favorable Development Control Norms for the project.
Background:
Earlier in October 2016, the MoU was entered into between Ministry of Railways and Ministry of Urban Development for mutual cooperation between the two Ministries for integrated planning of redevelopment of railway stations in the cities included in the ‘SMART Cities’ and AMRUT schemes.
The proposal was to plan the redevelopment of stations in partnership with the smart city SPVs and Urban Local Bodies so that the planning and redevelopment of the station and the city areas near the station is done in an integrated manner.
This MoU between Ministry of Railways and Ministry of Urban Development provided for formation of a JV company between NBCC and RLDA to take up the station redevelopment projects as NBCC has very wide and varied business experience in and expertise in the field of construction & real estate development and RLDA has expertise in monetization of Railway land by way of long term leasing of land.