People who want to bid for space in the 25-lakh-square-foot commercial area at the local railway station have another two months. Indian Railway Stations Development Corporation (IRSDC) has extended the deadline.
Sources in IRSDC said now they will accept bids till August 24, while the earlier deadline was June 24. Prospective bidders had requested the corporation for more time to let the Covid-19 situation improve. The pandemic has caused a huge shortage of labour, which has stalled major projects. In this environment, companies do not want to start something fresh in absence of any basic requirement.
May 20, the corporation had a pre-bidding meeting with giants of the real-estate, industrial, and fund houses sectors. Participants included L&T, Eldeco, Adani Group, Kalpataru Power Transmission, JLL, JKB Infrastructure, and AECOM. Chief executive officer S K Lohia represented the IRSDC.
The first due date for bidding was May 27. During the pre-bid meeting, companies requested for more time. The IRSDC plans to put in Rs 136 crore in this project to make the station world-class with the addition of an international airport by 2021. But the revamping has not started yet and the project winner is inactive. On June 26, the IRSDC opened the bids for four stations (Gwalior, Nagpur, Amritsar, and Sabarmati) and soon the work will commence on these sites.
The four projects will be railways’ first started by in-principle approval of the Centre’s Public Private Partnership Appraisal Committee (PPPAC). These are also first to have provision for pre-determined user charges on passengers and visitors as a revenue stream for the concessionaire of the redeveloped stations.