IR to invite bids for leasing surplus plots

Reportedly, Indian Railways (IR) plans to invite bids from private companies to lease out 84 surplus plots worth over Rs 75 billion in the next 18 months. This is a part of the land monetisation plans by the Rail Land Development Authority (RLDA). RLDA is responsible for the redevelopment and commercial exploitation of surplus land. The authority has been entrusted with 119 commercial sites for development, of which bids for 35 with a lease value of Rs 28.35 billion have already been awarded. Under the National Monetisation Pipeline, IR has managed asset monetisation worth only Rs 1.33 billion 2020-21, followed by Rs 6.55 billion in 2021-22 and Rs 30 billion in 2022-23. Plans to have an Infrastructure Investment Trust in railways has not worked out.