Despite annulment of its two tenders to lease out retail space at Metro stations, the Jaipur Metro Rail Corporation (JMRC) is confident of increasing its non-fare revenue. The Metro continues to look for proposals to lease of nearly 3,000 square meters of its property at various Metro stations.
“The lease of retail space at stations is continuously in process, proposals for various such properties have been invited for the purpose,” chairman and managing director of JMRC, Pawan Goyal stated in an official release on Thursday.
JMRC has been counting heavily on the non-fare revenue component to improve on its financial viability. The corporation had registered non-fare revenue of more than Rs4 crore during last fiscal. This was half the total fare revenue collected during the year. The target of non-fare revenue collection this fiscal has been increased by 400 per cent. “In current fiscal the non-fare revenue is expected to cross Rs 15 crore, most of which is expected from lease of properties,” says a metro officer. In absence of adequate ridership the Jaipur metro relies heavily on the non-fare revenue to improve its balance book. However, absence of riders spoils the real estate lease plans.
The Metro had annulled tenders for lease of space at New Aatish Market and Mansarovar stations due to non participation of bidders. A low footfall at the stations demotivates many investors while some are discontent with the lease duration. The Metro has laid down a condition to lease properties for seven years, to be further extended to three more years. The time investors feel is much less as the 2nd phase of Metro is still in conceptual stage.
