JOIN USThe Railways would expedite e-auctioning of 22 major stations under the public private partnership, with ministry officials holding pre-bid consultations with major real estate developers.
A senior official said many of the developers are interested to invest in the project.
The ministry has already awarded the Habibganj station in suburban Bhopal to a private developer. The station is among 23 major railway properties to be auctioned in the first phase. It is all set to auction Kanpur and Allahabad in Uttar Pradesh.
The stations to be refurbished by the end of this year include Bangalore Cantonment, Yeswanthpur, Pune, Thane, Visakhapatnam, Kamakhya, Jammu Tawi, Udaipur City, Secunderabad, Vijayawada, Ranchi, Kozhikode, Bandra Terminus, Borivali and Indore.
The project is aimed at attracting Rs 1 lakh crore investment to facelift 400 major stations across the country through the PPP model. In the first phase alone, the Railways is expecting to get Rs 30,000 crore through the auction. The sum accrued through the auction would be huge since the 23 stations are located in major commercial hubs, a railway official explained.