The Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) is contemplating additional revenue that can be made from retail outlets within Metro stations as soon as the Phase 1 of the Namma Metro gets over.
In a couple of months, the BMRCL will be inviting tenders for retail outlets along Reach 3 and 3A (Sampige Road to Yeswanthpur and Yeshwantpur to Peenya).
These two lines are expected to be completed by this year end and qualifies as the green line (North South extention).
According to U A Vasant Rao, General Manager (Finance), BMRCL, “We plan to call tenders so that companies that are shortlisted can begin the construction of the retail outlets ahead of the commissioning of the line. This way, commuters can use the outlets as soon as the line is commissioned,” he said adding that the rentals will be payable only after the commissioning of the line.
Along Reach 1, where the Metro is currently operational, retail outlets are coming up. Apart from about 30 retail outlets and kiosks, including florists, quick service restaurants (QSR) and gift shops, pharmacy, repair shops, laundry services, etc, the BMRCL is also inviting tenders for eight small, medium and large QSRs at the MG Road, Trinity and Baiyyappanahalli stations.
The retail outlets will add to BMRCL’s revenue. Rao estimates that the eight new QSRs will bring in revenue of at least Rs 4 lakh per month. In addition to this, each of the other retail outlets is expected to bring in Rs 50,000- Rs 75,000 per month. “The difference with the new QSRs is that a percentage of the revenue from the QSR may come to BMRCL. The owners will pay BMRCL the rent or a percentage of the retail outlet, whichever is higher,” he said.
By the end of 2014, when all the lines of Namma Metro are commissioned, BMRCL hopes to make at least Rs 21 crore from traffic revenue. The BMRCL’s current traffic revenue is about Rs 90 lakh. “When we reach our peak traffic (10 million commuters), we expect at least 20 per cent of the revenue to be from property development,” he said.