Indian Express 05.08.2010
BRTS: Ahmedabad civic body dumps Kaizen engg from smart card project
Express News Service Tags : BRTS, civic, smart card project Posted: Fri Aug 06 2010, 02:21 hrs
Ahmedabad: The Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) has decided to dump Kaizen Engineering Systems Pvt Ltd, which was awarded a seven-year contract for providing a ticketing and smart card system for the Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS).Officials said Kaizen failed to come up with the required services and now the Indo-Spanish consortium of Vayam Technologies and GMV of Spain is being considered. The consortium has been chosen for a six-year contract but will have to satisfactorily prove its competence in the first six months to run 116 buses and 150 bus stations on the route.
In February 2009, AMC had approved a contract in favour of Kaizen to run 170 buses and 280 bus stations for seven years against a payment of Rs 153.18 crore. A month later, this offer was scaled down to run 30 bus stations and 50 buses against a payment of Rs 74.11 crore. But Kaizen failed to develop a system for automatic fare collection, smart card, public information system, and vehicle tracking system in the scheduled time forcing AMC to issue a termination notice in December 2009
At present, Kaizen operates 26 buses, 43 bus stations and the central control system. Another 17 bus stations are run by the state owned GIPL.
But in the absence of coordination between Kaizen and GIPL, AMC has decided to shortlist another firm to replace Kaizen. The municipal commissioner has also written a letter to the Standing Committee in this regard which will shortly decide the matter.
On Thursday, a meeting was held to discuss the alternative arrangement following issuance of fresh tenders where Siemens and the Indo-Spanish Consortium showed interest.
Deputy Municipal Commissioner U C Padia said AMC is expected to award the contract to the Indo-Spanish consortium in view of the low bidding price, even lower than the one quoted by Kaizen.
The smart card on BRT buses remained a pipe-dream for the city due to the inability of earlier firms to bring up a viable and sustainable IT based solution. It is because of the delay in the smart card system that Ahmedabad Janmarg Ltd and AMTS have not been able to work out a common ticket to use feeder buses and BRT buses, said Padia.
