Realtors in race to win Rs.10,000 cr project

Mainline real estate builders of the country including Tata Realty, Shapoorji Pallonji, IL&FS, Reliance Infrastructure, Raheja Group, and Essel Infra, are among other developers that have evinced interest in modernizing and upgrading major Mumbai railway stations at Bandra Terminus, Mumbai Central, Lokmanya Tilak Terminus, Borivali and Thane at an estimated cost of Rs.10,000 crore, said a railway insider, adding that the stations will be awarded under the Swiss challenge method, where proposals are invited online and rivals can offer counter-bids. The builders will get commercial exploitation rights for railway land for 45 years in lieu of redeveloping and modernizing the existing stations. The Mumbai redevelopment projects are high traction ones for private builders as they will be able to access prime real estate assets and also the combined daily footfall at these stations is upwards of 50 lakh per day, which would make projects financially viable, he said.