Larsen & Toubro (L&T) has submitted the lowest quote for the New Delhi Railway Station redevelopment project. Sources said the amount quoted is over Rs 8,000 crore, which is significantly higher than railways estimated project cost of around Rs 5,000 crore.
Officials are tight-lipped about whether the railways will now approach the Cabinet again for approval before bidding out the project considering that the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) had approved Rs 10,000 crore for revamp of three major stations – New Delhi, CST (Mumbai) and Ahmedabad. Sources said it may take around a month to arrive at a final decision and they are examining every aspect.
Only two companies – L&T and Sapoorji Pallonji – have put their bids for the fully government-funded project.
Earlier three attempts to bid out this ambitious project in 2001-02, 2008-09 and in 2021 had failed. This is the first time when private players have put their bids and the Rail Land Development Authority (RLDA) has opened the tenders. “We are hopeful of a decision soon on how to go about the project considering that the price quoted by the lowest bidder is much higher than the estimated cost. The bids are in the evaluation stage,” said an official.
The railways had set the target to bid out the project in April so that work could start in the next couple of months. The redevelopment of NDRS, which sees 4.5 lakh footfall daily, will take at least two years.
The revamped station will have two unique twin domes having four floors of “roof plazas” creating additional space of about 15 acres. The roof plaza will be 10 meters above the track and there will be complete segregation of arrival and departure to avoid crowding. There will be a network of elevated roads around the twin domes. The passengers will wait in the roof plaza area and come to the platform only to board a train and similarly after getting out of the train they will exit the station through the roof plaza. This will ensure no crowding at stations.