Union Railway Minister PK Bansal on February 26 proposed to fix a target of Rs 1,000 crore of earnings each for the Rail Land Development Authority (RLDA) and the Indian Railways Station Development Corporation (IRSDC) in 2013-14. The RLDA was set up by the Ministry in November 2006.
It was to be responsible for development of vacant land belonging to the railways, which could be used for commercial purposes to generate revenue. The was to do so by a public-private partnership route. The IRSDC was set up as a Special Purpose Vehicle in November 2011, with equity participation of Ircon International, a company under the Ministry, and the RLDA.
The RLDA website says Indian Railways has about 43,000 hectares of vacant land. Each zonal railway is to identify land not required for operational purposes in the foreseeable future and send details to the Railway Board. These land lots are to be given, in phases, to RLDA.
It appears RLDA earned Rs 1,105 crore in 2011-12, Rs 732 crore in 2010-11 and Rs 649 crore in 2009-10. Bansal said the Ministry would allocate Rs 100 crore to augment infrastructure and revamp the facilities of different railway stations in the National Capital Region.