The Rail Land Development Authority (RLDA) has invited bids for the redevelopment of Ernakulam Junction railway station in Kerala on a Public-private partnership (PPP) model as a part of Smart City Projects launched by the central government, officials said on Wednesday.

The Ernakulam station will be developed on a Design, Build, Finance, Operate, Transfer (DBFOT) model, a statement issued by the RLDA said here on Wednesday. The project cost is estimated to be Rs 229 crores. Spanning across 48 acres, Ernakulam Junction Railway Station, consisting of six platforms and two terminal buildings (the Main entry and the Eastern entry), is accessible via public transport with the KSRTC bus terminus in the north and Manorama and Valanjambalam junctions in the southern end.

The objective of redevelopment is to provide world-class amenities such as departure passenger entry hall, arrival passenger exit hall, baggage security check-in area, an information centre etc to commuters, the statement said. The project involves two components viz. station component or mandatory component, and the commercial component.

RLDA said it conducted the online pre-bid meeting for the redevelopment of Ernakulam Railway Station on January 25 and over 15 participants including Kalpataru Group, Anchorage Infrastructure, Adani Group, and GMR Group attended it. The Ernakulam railway station is strategically located near the bus terminus and well connected through public transportation with Kochi. "Ernakulam South Metro Station has also come up near the Railway Station. The redevelopment of the station will give a fillip to real estate and retail spaces in the vicinity and spur the regional transformation," said Ved Prakash Dudeja, Vice Chairman of RLDA.

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