In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent lockdown, the Rail Land Development Authority (RLDA), yesterday (April 30th ) conducted a pre-bid meeting through video conferencing for the tender floated for selection of a consultancy firm for redevelopment of the New Delhi Railway station.
More than 30 consultancy firms participated in the meeting. The tender would be awarded by first week of June 2020.
“We have successfully conducted the online pre bid meeting for the tender floated for selection of a consultancy firm in which more than 30 consultancy firms participated. All queries of the stakeholders were answered on the spot through video conferencing and consultants were asked to send any other queries if any through mail up to May 4. These would be answered within four days,” said Ved Prakash Dudeja, vice chairman, RLDA.
RLDA is an organization under the Ministry of Railways and is hoping to generate an investment of close to Rs 7,000 crore from the project of which Rs 5,000 crore would be spent on redevelopment of the station and the railway offices.
The Indian Railways is considering monetising the land parcels located near New Delhi Railway stations by developing the vacant land parcels for commercial use. RLDA had floated the Request for Proposal on March 11 and expects to award the tender by June and appoint a consultant for the project.
Once the redevelopment project is completed, Delhi’s Connaught Place area may get at least 2.5 million sqft of new commercial space, perhaps the most expensive piece of real estate.
The entire area will be developed across an area of about 8 million sq ft and the developer who is finally selected would be allowed to build commercial spaces on about 2.5 million sq ft.
“This project is to be executed with the private sector partnership by leveraging the real estate development potential in the air space above the station and on railway land around the station. The key objective of this project is to provide superior passenger services to railway passengers at stations and transform these stations into iconic standard-bearers of the cities following the PPP model,” said Dudeja.
Indian Railways has been entrusted New Delhi Railway Station of Northern Railway to Rail Land Development Authority (RLDA) for its redevelopment with state of art architecture, facilities and public amenities.
This project is to be executed with private sector partnership by leveraging the real estate development potential in the air space above the station and on Railway Land around station. Key objective of this project is to provide modern passenger services for railway passengers following PPP model.
The consultant, who comes on board, would be expected to provide consultancy services for feasibility study, detailed master planning, urban designing, engineering and would have to prepare a detailed project report for redevelopment of the station. The time to complete the work is six months.
On March 11, 2020, RLDA floated the RFP (request for proposal) inviting bids from suitable bidders for the selection of consultancy firm providing consultancy services for feasibility study, detailed master planning, urban designing, engineering and preparation of detailed project report (DPR) for re-development of New Delhi railway station of Northern Railway.
A total of 62 railway stations across the country are being re-developed by RLDA on PPP model, on a self- sustainable model in synergy with Smart City projects launched by the government. Entire cost of re-development to be met by leveraging commercial development of spare railway land/airspace in and around the station.
The consultant would have to prepare a Master Plan giving details of the land use, architecture, urban design and associated parameters for the development of the railway station in a world class passenger terminal and transit oriented mixed-use development in a manner which would utilise the existing land. The adjoining railway colonies and other areas would be a part of the Master Plan.
It would have considered the urban land use, development norms and the Floor Area Ratio. It would have to study the traffic patterns of the area taking into account the future developments planned.