Indian Railways to refloat bids for Rs 946 crore Vijayawada station project

Vijayawada: Following the lacklustre response from the contractors to the Vijayawada railway redevelopment project, the Indian Railways (IR) will soon float fresh tenders for the redevelopment of the Vijayawada railway station project. The railways have invited bids for the redevelopment of Vijayawada station works worth Rs 946.60 crore, which include Rs 661.11 crore mandatory development works under the design, build, finance, operate & transfer (DBFOT) method popularly known as the PPP model.It could be mentioned here that the ministry of railways (MoR) has identified a total of 15 stations for development on a PPP model along with Vijayawada station, across the country.The railways have almost executed all the railway station development works, including the major Visakhapatnam, Nellore, Tirupati and other railway stations in Andhra Pradesh under the Amrit Bharat Station Scheme (ABSS). In a first, the railways have decided to execute the Vijayawada station redevelopment works under the PPP model and entrusted the Rail Land Development Authority (RLDA) with the project execution works.“Since the project is being executed under the PPP model, which is perhaps a first in this region for a railway station, the developers interested in taking part in the project require plenty of time to study and understand the guidelines before filing the tender bids,” a representative from a consultancy firm involved in the stakeholder meeting said.Under the station redevelopment project, the Vijayawada station would get an airport-like facelift, including the redevelopment of East and West side terminal buildings along with a wider foot over bridge connecting all platforms, multi-level car parking and revamping of all 10 platforms to handle 20,000 passengers at peak hour time.