CHENNAI: The Rail Land Development Authority (RLDA) part of the Indian Railways has decided to cash on 3.8 acres of land near Puducherry Railway Station as part of the redevelopment of the station.
According to the RLDA, the Puducherry station will be redeveloped with state-of-the-art amenities such as provisions for differently abled, harmonious co-existence of the railway station and real estate projects, green building among others on the Design, Build, Finance, Operate Transfer (DBFOT) model.
The size of the proposed land parcels is two acres (Station Component) and 3.8 acres (Commercial Component). The concession period for the project under the Concession Agreement is 60 years. In other words, the Concessionaire must operate and maintain the Railway station buildings and estate for 60 years.
The cost of the project is estimated at Rs 44 crore. The tender as of now is scheduled to be awarded by the end of August 2020, said the RLDA. According to the RLDA, two online pre-bid meeting for the project will be conducted through video conferencing on June 10, 2020 and June 17, 2020.
The pre-bid meetings are slated to witness the participation from interested bidders. All the queries will be answered on the spot through video conferencing. This comes after RLDA floated an RFP (Request for Proposal) inviting bids for the selection of a suitable public or private entity for re-development of the Puducherry railway station.
The selected bidder will be required to undertake the up-gradation and redevelopment of the Puducherry Railway Station, including the commercial development of the surrounding railway land followed by its operation and maintenance.
“Amid the COVID-19 lockdown, we are committed to ensuring seamless operations. The pre-bid meetings for Puducherry railway station will be conducted on 10th June 2020 & 17th June 2020 through an online mode to ensure that the re-development of the Puducherry railway station doesn’t suffer any delay due to COVID19,” said Ved Parkash Dudeja, Vice- Chairman, RLDA.