New Delhi: The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved a policy to facilitate long-term leasing of Railways’ Land for implementing PM Gati Shakti framework. Briefing media in New Delhi, Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur said, the policy will not only help generate more revenue for the Railways and but also create about 1.20 lakh jobs.
He said, the new policy will help provide land lease for a longer period of up to 35 years as against five years at present. Three hundred cargo terminals will also be developed over the next five years under the PM Gati Shakti scheme.
Thakur said, this will also help in attracting more cargo to railways and reducing the logistics costs of the industry. “The revised railways’ land policy will enable integrated development of infrastructure and more cargo terminals. The policy will provide for use of railway land at a nominal cost for setting up solar plants on railway land,” added Thakur.
Apart from leasing the land for setting up cargo terminals, these land parcels would also be used for setting up social infrastructures like hospitals and schools through public-private partnership mode.
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In addition to this, solar plants would also be set up on railway land, the Minister added. The land would be leased for new stakeholders for up to 35 years at 1.5 per cent of market value of the land. Existing stakeholders can participate in this scheme through a transparent bidding system, he added.
