Govt of India approves Railway Land Lease Policy amendment for better development

New Delhi, India (Urban Transport News): To enable faster-integrated planning and development of infrastructure across the country under PM Gati Shakti framework, a need was felt to streamline and simplify the Railway’s land lease policy. In this regard, The Union Cabinet, chaired by Hon’ble PM Shri Narendra Modi, has approved the Ministry of Railways’ proposal to revise the railways’ land policy.

Key Features of the Revised Policy

The extant short-term licence policy was ill-equipped to attract serious investors for creating multimodal cargo hubs. Under the policy revision, long-term leasing of railway land for up to 35 years has been allowed mainly to Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs). The modified land leasing policy will encourage the development of more cargo terminals. Consequently, it will enhance the share of rail in freight transportation leading to a reduction in the logistics cost of the industry. 

Railways will earn more revenue as more cargo share will come to Railways. This modified policy will pave way for simplification of approvals for utilities as envisaged in the PM Gati Shakti Programme, like electricity, gas, water supply, telecom cable, sewage disposal, drains, optical fibre cables (OFC), pipelines, roads, flyovers, terminals, regional rail transport, urban transport etc. in an integrated manner. Land use and Right of Way (ROW) for Railway land will be provided at 1.5% of the market value of land per annum. 

Thrust to Social, Environmental, & Infrastructural Development

• A potential of about 1.2 lakh employment will be generated as a result of this policy amendment.
• The existing entities using railway land for cargo terminals will have the option to switch to the new policy regime after a transparent and competitive bidding process.
• This will facilitate the development of 300 PM Gati Shakti Cargo Terminals over the next five years.
• A one-time fee of Rs. 1000/- will be charged for crossing railway tracks to lay dawn Optical Fibre Cables (OFC) and other smaller diameter underground utilities.
• Setting up solar plants on railway land will be encouraged, as the land will be provided at a nominal cost.
• The policy also encourages the development of social infrastructure like hospitals through PPP and schools through Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan on railway land at a nominal annual fee of Rupee 1 per sqm. per annum.