Thane to get 100 electronic buses next year
One can soon take an e-bus or an electronic bus in Thane. The Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) will procure 100 e-buses and will start the buying process from January.
“The e-bus project is successful in Australia. The air-conditioned buses can run 120km after being charged once and its batteries take only 30-50 minutes to be charged,” said a senior officer from the TMC.
The TMC is also planning to start a mini solar energy power generation plant at the TMT depot. “The solar power can be used to recharge the e-buses and for the TMT depot building. At present, solar power is used in TMT headquarters,” said the official.
The power plant at TMT depot will be done on public-private partnership. “The TMC will not have to spend any money for project. It will only provide the land,” he said.
The e-bus will be another step towards smart city.
Thane’s Smart City Project plan has been submitted to the Centre with an estimated cost of Rs6,630 crore. The earlier cost was Rs5,500 crore.
In the final draft, the TMC has set aside Rs2,900 crore for cluster development and Rs250 crore for waterfront development.
The proposed new railway station between Thane and Mulund has been pegegd at Rs500 crore. The TMC has shown a keen interest to provide more facilities for sports and will renovate Dadoji Kondev Stadium at a cost of Rs 50 crore.
To make the city smart, it will take steps to solve the parking problem in Thane station area.
The TMC has proposed to spend Rs 30 crore to build multilevel parking plaza near Thane station (West).
An underground parking plaza at Gaondevi Maidan will cost the TMC Rs50 crore. A total of Rs10 crore has been earmarked for preservation and beautification of Masunda and Hariyali lakes.