The RLDA that in February received requests for qualification from these firms has found all of them eligible. “We will now invite them to participate in the tender and are likely to award the bid by the end of this year,” said the official.
Omaxe, BIF IV India Infrastructure Holding, ISQ Asia Infrastructure Investments and Elpis Ventures are the other companies that have been cleared for the bidding process.
The RLDA has planned a mix of retail, office and hospitality developments on 30 acres near Connaught Place as part of the redevelopment project.
Due to the pandemic, RLDA has undertaken all the pre-bid meetings online. It has also conducted virtual road shows to attract investors and ensured that the project execution doesn’t suffer due to Covid-19.
The redevelopment of the New Delhi railway station is a flagship project of the RLDA and the first project to be undertaken on the Transit-Oriented Development concept in the National Capital Region.
The objective is to enhance the travel experience and offer superior amenities to travellers.
The redeveloped station will be equipped with amenities such as segregation of entry and exit, 40-floor high-rise twin towers for hotels, shopping complex and parking lots.
The project will be developed on a design-build-finance-operate-transfer basis at the cost of $680 million (about Rs 4,950 crore).
It offers multiple revenue streams to the concessionaire, including passenger handling fee, ticket sales, and revenues from facilities within the station, such as retail areas, lounges, parking, advertisement spaces, and commercial real estate leasing. The concessionaire period is 60 years.
The RLDA is the approving authority for the master plan.
To expedite approvals and clearances, an apex committee under the lieutenant governor of Delhi has been constituted.
The project involves the development of around 12 lakh square metres of built-up area as a higher FSI is permitted under the Transit-Oriented Development policy.
The New Delhi station handles about 450,000 passengers and 400 trains a day, which is expected to increase. It has a master plan area of 120 hectares, and the Phase 1 of the project covers 88 hectares of this.
The station will be developed to ensure multi-modal transport integration and development. According to the plans, it will be integrated with the Delhi Metro Rail’s Yellow line, airport express line and with the Connaught Place outer circle through a pedestrian boulevard.
The RLDA is currently working on 62 stations in a phased manner while its subsidiary, Indian Railways Station Development Corporation, has taken up another 61 stations.
In the first phase, the RLDA has prioritised prominent stations like New Delhi, Tirupati, Dehradun, Nellore and Puducherry for redevelopment.
