Rotary Club of Delhi Midtown- Rotary International District 3011 organised a webinar, on 22 August, 2020 on the theme ‘Transforming Railway Station’. Managing Director & CEO, IRSDC, Shri S.K. Lohia participated in the webinar as a Guest Speaker and shared his detailed views on ‘Transforming Railway Stations’.
The webinar was open for all to join. Mr. Suresh Gupta, President and Mr. Yatin Wadhwana, Secretary, Rotary Club joined the session along with many Rotary members. More than 250 attendees joined the webinar including Architects, Engineers, Developers, Fund Houses, CPSEs and Infrastructure & Logistics entities.
Shri Lohia made a detailed presentation on the current and upcoming projects of IRSDC and how the organisation is transforming the landscape of station re/development in India under the able guidance of Hon’ble Minister, MoR, Govt. of India.
The key highlights of the presentation were:-
- Projects under Execution- 2 (Habibganj and Gandhinagar).
- EPC Contracts awarded for Station Development- 3 (Anand Vihar, Bijwasan, Chandigarh).
- Commercial Development Tenders- 3 (Anand Vihar, Bijwasan, Chandigarh).
- RFQS invited- 4 (Amritsar, Nagpur, Gwalior and Sabarmati).
- Stations for Integrated Facility Management (FM)- 5 running, 90 more planned on PPP I model.
- 6 CPSES engaged to act as PML tor 4S Stations.
During the webinar pioneering steps of IRSDC were shared, like Habibganj Railway Station will be the first station with world class amenities under PPP mode, EPC tender of Gandhinagar Railway Station was accepted in 2017 and is the first 5 star hotel right above the tracks, KSR Bengaluru is the first station which has been taken up by IRSDC for Facility Management in 2019 and the PPPAC approval for 4 stations (Nagpur, Gwalior, Amritsar and Sabarmati) in 2020.
MD & CEO, IRSDC also highlighted:-
- IRSDC is the Planning & Approval Body for all Railway Station Redevelopment projects;
- In consultation with local bodies.
- Generally following National TOD policy.
- No Change in Land Use required PAN India.
- IRSDC has started functioning as a deemed planning authority for railway projects; and
- MoEF has clarified that Station development projects with commercial development are exempted from prior Environment clearance subject to certain terms & conditions.
In addition to this the participants were briefed about the current activities of IRSDC and the opportunities for private sector in three domains broadly i.e. Integrated Facility Management, Station Redevelopment and Land Monetisation.
‘Railopolis’:
- Shri Lohia during the webinar stated how IRSDC is at the core of Indian Railways’ mission of transforming country’s railway stations into world-class 24×7 hubs and supporting ‘innovations’.
- These redeveloped hubs will be called ‘Railopolis’ as here people can live, work, play and ride.
- It will attract huge investment and business opportunities.
- With application of Form Based codes developed by IRSDC, the availability of public area in ‘Railopolis’ shall increase thus making such redeveloped railway stations as true city centres.
Source: IRSDC-Press Note
