Govt takes stock of its plan to buy 1,000 DTC buses

The entire point of having these deadlines for every step of the project is to monitor progress. We will make sure there are no derailments and, in case there are any, due to unavoidable circumstances, we will try to keep up by expediting the process.

KAILASH GAHLOT, Delhi’s transport minister

NEW DELHI: The Delhi government’s transport department has started taking stock of the progress it has made for rolling out 1,000 new DTC buses on the city’s roads to meet the timelines announced by finance minister Manish Sisodia in this year’s budget.

Senior officials of the transport department said that the tender for the procurement of 1,000 standard DTC buses was already floated, and bidders were invited on March 15.

However, delays are usually caused when the process of receiving the bids begins. In the past, the department has had to float multiple bids to finally get the best offer, officials said.

While the proposal was being announced at the Delhi assembly on March 22, the pre-bid meetings were also conducted by the department to ensure that no delays are witnessed in the project.

Delhi’s transport minister Kailash Gahlot said that timelines are helping him and the bureaucrats keep a tab of the work.

“We are adhering to the dates accorded to us. We will now try to wrap up the bids on time and get the first batch of buses on road by November this year,” Gahlot said.

As per the timelines shared in the budget document, the department is scheduled to freeze the bid document by April 12, and have maintained that the last day for the submission of bids will be May 11.

According to the officials concerned, this is the most challenging part of the entire process. In several cases in the past, enough bids are not received to make the process more competitive and as a result the last dates for the submission of bids have to be extended.

“The entire point of having these deadlines for every step of the project is to monitor progress. We will make sure there are no derailments and, in case there are any, due to unavoidable circumstances, we will try to keep up by expediting the process,” Gahlot said.

The procurement of additional buses will be a major boost to the public transport system of the city, which at present is witnessing its lowest and over-aged fleet.

Though the Delhi high court had directed the government to maintain a fleet of 11,000 buses, at present the city only has around 5,600 buses.

Out of the total fleet, 21% buses are ‘over-aged’, which the transport department says are those that are running for more than eight years and will be taken off roads by next year.

Besides, over 78% buses are those that will age in the next six to eight years.