Metro-3: By 2021, you can shop, dine at underground stations

Come 2021, you will be able to dine and shop from the outlets at all underground stations on the Metro-3 (Colaba-Bandra-Seepz) route.

Come 2021, you will be able to dine and shop from the outlets at all underground stations on the Metro-3 (Colaba-Bandra-Seepz) route.

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On Monday, the Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation (MMRC) invited expression of interests (EoI) to lease out commercial spaces, spanning around 1.5 lakh square feet inside these stations, to open supermarkets, pharmacies and food courts, right underneath the city.

MMRC is executing the fully underground 33.5 km Metro-3 corridor. With an estimated ridership of 14 lakh people per day, Metro-3 is expected to be one of the busiest lines connecting the island city to the western suburbs. The first phase of the corridor is expected to be operational by June 2021.

Though the commercial spaces will be opened at all the stations, MMRC has given special emphasis to four major stations – Cuffe Parade, Siddhivinayak, Bandra-Kurla Complex and Terminal-2 of the international airport – which are likely to see high footfalls and is looking to lease out large parcels between 20,000 and 40,000 square feet area on the concourse and mezzanine levels at these Metro stations.

The Cuffe Parade station, which is surrounded by high-end residential buildings and commercial buildings such as the World Trade Center, is expected to cater around 68,000 passengers every day, MMRC said.

“The space available at some stations can be accessed by passengers as well as non-passengers. So we are looking to set-up food courts, supermarkets, salons, banks and pharmacies in those spaces,” said R Ramana, executive director, MMRC.

Apart from these large commercial spaces, MMRC is also looking to provide smaller kiosks, ranging from 300 to 1000 square feet at all stations, which can accommodate food stalls, transit retail stores, ATMs and vending machines.

“Given the large number of metro stations that will come up across the country over the next five years, the retailers operating hypermarkets and supermarkets now need to configure a new format, specifically for transit and grab-and-go retail, on the lines of the 7/11 stores found at metro stations across the world”, said Shadab Siddiqui of Auctus Advisors, which is managing the tender process for MMRC.

The developing body is looking to generate an annual revenue of ₹20 to ₹25 crore by leasing out the area for commercial spaces. The central government’s Metro Rail Policy 2017 requires states to maximise their non-fare revenue generation through leasing of space, advertisements, commercial development and other initiatives, so that the fares for Metro can be low.