CSMT Station redevelopment project attracts big names in pre-bid meeting

The redevelopment project of CSMT has been planned to make it function like a city center rail mall where in addition to passenger's transportation needs, daily needs can also be fulfilled like retail, entertainment, and many others.

New Delhi: Around 43 prospective bidders participated in the pre-bid meeting for the redevelopment project of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminal Railway Station under the Public-Private Partnership model (PPP) on Friday.

The meeting was chaired by CEO NITI Aayog, Amitabh Kant and Chairman Railway Board, Vinod Kumar Yadav where the Railway Board Member Infrastructure, General Manager of Central Railway and Northern Railway were also present.

43 bidders who attended the meeting, includes developers like Adani Group, Tata Projects Ltd, Eldeco, GMR Group, Larsen and Toubro, architects namely BDP Singapore, Hafeez Contractor, AECOM, fund houses namely Anchorage Infrastructure, Brookfield and Consultancy, Boston Consultancy, KPMG, and many others.

In a statement released by Indian Railway Station Development Corporation Ltd (IRSDC), it has been stated, "The pre-bid meeting held today received a huge response from the industry and developers and fund houses seemingly are very much interested in this investment opportunity."

Indian Railway Stations Development Corporation (IRSDC) had invited Request for Qualification (RFQ) for re-development of CSMT (Mumbai) station on August 20, 2020, and the due date for application is October 22, 2020.

In the pre-bid meeting, it was highlighted that during the RFQ stage, applicants would need to fulfill only the financial criteria that is minimum net worth for developers or minimum ACI for funds, and the technical eligibility criteria has been dispensed with.

The redevelopment project of CSMT station will cost Rs 1,642 crore and the cost of real estate is Rs 1,433 crore.

The construction period of this project is for 4 years.

IRSDC also informed that the selected bidder at the RFP stage will be able to take up the redevelopment of the railway station and commercial development of surrounding Railway land on a leasehold basis for 60 years and up to 99 years for residential development on selected plots, along with operation and maintenance of the station for 60 years on construction basis.

The redevelopment project of CSMT has been planned to make it function like a city center rail mall where in addition to passenger's transportation needs, daily needs can also be fulfilled like retail, entertainment, and many others.

It will also provide a direct linkage between the suburban railway, harbour line, and Metro rail.