New Delhi: The East Coast Railways and the state government Thursday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for redesigning Bhubaneswar railway station at Master Canteen area into a world class station at a cost of `840 crore.
According to railways, the area adjoining Bhubaneswar Railway station is proposed to be developed as Railway Station Multimodal Hub (RSMH) under Smart City Mission of the Union government. The project will be taken up by Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA). The multi-modal hub, to be completed in three years, will have a new terminal building, bus terminal, car parking, theatre plaza, art plaza and children’s plaza along with food courts. It will be developed on engineering, procurement and construction model at the cost of `300 crore, said the sources.
Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, Railways Minister Piyush Goyal and Union Steel Minister Dharmendra Pradhan joined the MoU signing ceremony through video conferencing.
Pradhan said the people of Bhubaneswar would greatly benefit from this project and it could become a hub for tourism in the area.
Chief Minister Patnaik complimented the railways for coming forward to develop the project and hoped it will be a world class multi-modal transport hub and could be a first-of-its-kind in the country.
The proposed building will have G+5 floors of which G+2 floors will be earmarked for use by Railways. The area earmarked for Railways will be 1.74 lakh sqft. Railways will spend `70 crore that will include construction of two additional lines with one platform, full covershed, extension of FOB and all modern passenger amenities. The state government will spend ` 60 crore for construction of new station building having G+2 floors.