Work on inter-city bus service launch kicks off in Ludhiana

Nitin Jain

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, August 13

The work to launch the city bus service in Ludhiana has finally begun. The Union Government is introducing the much-needed inter-city transportation facility in a bid to redefine urban mobility, officials said. Besides Ludhiana, Amritsar, Jalandhar and Patiala are also part of the Rs 20,000-crore PM-eBus Sewa Scheme.

Aim of the scheme

• To redefine urban mobility; strengthen our urban transport infrastructure; prioritise cities that do not have organised bus services; ensure cleaner and efficient transport; and generate jobs for youth

Confirming the development, Municipal Corporation (MC) Commissioner Sandeep Rishi told The Tribune, here on Monday that a fleet of 100 electric buses, 9m in length, will be provided by the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs under the Central scheme to Ludhiana.

He disclosed that the project would be run on public-private-partnership (PPP) mode for 10 years or up to March, 2037, whichever is earlier.

The ministry has initiated the tendering process for procurement of the e-buses and the last date for submission of bids is August 12.

Rishi said the buses will be operated on a gross cost contract (GCC) and Central assistance of Rs 22 per km will be provided to run them under the scheme. “Beyond the Central assistance, the expenditure will be shared equally in a 50:50 ratio by the state government and the MC,” he revealed.

The MC has already finalised the location of two bus depots for running the city bus service — one at Hambran Road over 0.92 acre land from where 30 buses will operate and another on Ghora Road over 3.48 acre site from where 70 buses will undertake operations.

He said 60 per cent of the project cost will be provided by the Centre for development/upgradation of civil infrastructure related to bus depots while 100 per cent Central assistance will be provided for creation of behind-the-meter power infrastructure.

It was on August 16 last that the Centre had launched, “PM-eBus Sewa Scheme” with an aim to augment bus operations by deployment of electric buses on the PPP model and development of associated infrastructure in urban areas with Central assistance.

As many as 169 cities falling in the range of 3 to 40 lakh population size, as per Census 2011, including four cities — Ludhiana, Amritsar, Jalandhar and Patiala — were eligible to participate in this scheme.

The Centre has sanctioned 3,850 e-buses for deployment in 51 cities covered under the scheme across the country. Earlier, a team of the MoHUA had already conducted the ground survey for the launch of the scheme in Ludhiana.

Since 100 e-buses are being provided to Ludhiana for city bus service in the first phase, the MC has requested the Centre for mini buses in view of the congestion and traffic bottlenecks in the state’s biggest and largest city, in terms of area and population.