Newstrack

Railways to lure hotel, mall, multiplex developers

To raise Rs 4,000 crore from five-star hotels to food joints

Sanjeev Bhar - New Delhi

The Union Rail Budget for 2008-09 will provide an opportunity to hospitality developers to cash in on Railway Land Development Authority's (RLDA) surplus land. Speaking to Express Hospitality, Ashok Gupta, member (Project Infrastructure Development) for RLDA, said, "We are looking at various commercial opportunities that would be feasible depending on the local demand-supply dynamics and assurance from consultants to go ahead for such a development."

He said, "We are open to the idea of developing five-star, three-star or even budget hotels apart from multiplexes, malls, food joints and numerous other opportunities that may come under the purview of hospitality, considering the market needs of each site."

In his budget speech, Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav briefly touched upon RLDA and its role in the coming years. Under the PPP format, the minister said that RLDA will make commercial use of railway surplus land. "It (the railway ministry) is also envisaged that RLDA would raise Rs 4,000 crore during 2008-09 by making commercial use of railway surplus land. Therefore, concessions will be awarded to developers who commit an investment of about Rs 25,000 crore for various PPP projects," he said in his speech.

RLDA has asked for bids through tenders for 10 sites it has identified for commercial purpose in Delhi, Kanpur, Bengaluroo, Belgahria, Kanchrapara, Gwalior and two sites each in Sealdah and Vizag. "We are in the process of identifying 37 more sites and are going through feasibility studies by consultants. In all, we have 110 identified sites that will be developed in a phased manner," Gupta said.