Urban News

Indian Express 08.01.2010

Metropolitan devp authority opts out of BRTS project

The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) says it will not implement the Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) project; it wants the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) or BEST to take over.

The decision came after the MMRDA had commissioned and received a draft engineering report from the consultants. “We have taken a policy decision that city-level infrastructure work would be undertaken only by respective urban local bodies. We will concentrate on the Mass Rapid Transit System (MRTS) like the Metro and the monorail as it would have a presence across the metropolitan region. For BRTS, the BMC and the BEST have to take a decision; we have already conveyed to them that we wouldn't execute it,” said Metropolitan Commissioner Ratnakar Gaikwad.

“Also, the roads where the BRTS is to come up, the Eastern and Western Express Highways, have been handed over to the PWD and are not under our purview anymore,” he added.

The feasibility study report, submitted by CES in October, had estimated the cost at Rs 900 crore.

Municipal Commissioner Swadhin Kshatriya said he had no idea about the BRTS project, but modalities could be worked out if necessary. “The project is important for decongesting traffic in the city,” he said.

Transport expert Sudhir Badami, a member of the MMRDA's technical advisory committee on the BRTS, said it was unfortunate that the MMRDA had decided against executing the project after being given the mandate to conduct the feasibility study. “It is not just the problems of vehicular traffic and pollution that the BRTS aims to resolve. It would also reduce the number of deaths in road and rail accidents,” he said.

Business Standard 07.01.2010

To spruce up urban transportation and decongest city roads, the Uttar Pradesh government will usher in public-private partnership (PPP) model in seven major cities of the state.

Steps are also being taken to set up a dedicated Urban Transport Fund. The state government targets running over 1,300 buses in the first phase.

Under the project, Special purpose vehicles (SPVs) have been formed and the process for their registration is on. Later, a holding company will run all these SPVs.

According to the state infrastructure development department, the government had also appointed Urban Mass Transit Company Limited as consultant for the project and it had already prepared a detailed report in this regard.

In the first phase, this PPP model is being introduced in Lucknow, Allahabad, Varanasi, Kanpur, Meerut, Agra and Mathura. While, Agra and Mathura will have a common SPV, other cities will have separate SPVs for managing the city transport.

While, 300 buses each would be run in Lucknow and Kanpur, Agra was to get 200 buses and Meerut 60, UPSRTC operations chief P K Srivastava told Business Standard.

The project is being spearheaded by UP State Road Transport Corporation (UPSRTC) in collaboration with Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM). The idea is to provide cheap city transport to commuters and check the plying of private vehicles to control vehicular emission.

The respective divisional commissioners have been authorised to finalise the routes. The document to invite bids from private parties is being prepared. Bus stops in these towns will also be built under the PPP model.

For effective implementation, separate committees headed by the respective divisional commissioners have been set up, of which the respective UPSRTC assistant regional managers will work as ex-officio secretaries.

Earlier, the buses in these cities were being jointly run by UPSRTC and the urban development department.