`Freight corridors, development of stations to boost realty`

New Delhi: Dedicated freight corridors and redevelopment of 400 railway stations would foster the transit oriented development and boost the real estate market, property consultants have said.

However, they said successful funding mechanism and timely implementation of these projects would be the key.

"The railway minister Suresh Prabhu's announcement today on redevelopment of 400 stations through the private-public partnership (PPP) model is a very progressive and welcome move.

This project will foster a plethora of large transit-oriented developments across the country," said Anuj Puri, Chairman & Country Head, JLL India.

Indian Railways could efficiently monetise their land parcels, particularly in cities with higher densities, by commercially exploiting existing railway stations through sale of space rights over them, he added.

Commenting on the Rail budget, CBRE South Asia CMD Anshuman Magazine said: "From a real estate and infrastructure perspective the budget had some key announcements focusing on infrastructure such as dedicated freight corridors including three new freight corridors and transit development."

These initiatives if implemented successfully would benefit the Industrial and logistics real estate segment, he added.

"However, successful funding mechanisms coupled with timely implementation of all these announcements are necessary to strengthen India?s urban infrastructure," Magazine said.

Railway Minister announced India's first rail auto hub in Chennai and creation of dedicated north-south, east-west and east coast freight corridors by 2019.