First batch of 1,000 buses will be ready by Sept next yr: Gahlot

NEW DELHI: After the Supreme Court-mandated EPCA and the National Green Tribunal rapped the Delhi government for not doing enough to boost the city’s public transport, the authorities announced that the first batch of 1,000 buses would be on city roads by September next year.

Announcing the rollout plan of the 2,000 CNG standard-size buses which was approved by the Delhi Cabinet more than two months ago, transport minister Kailash Gahlot said, “For the procurement of 1,000 cluster or orange buses, the Notice Inviting Tender (NIT) is likely to be issued by November 30, 2017, and the department has been directed to complete the rollout of these buses within 10 months.”

For the other 1,000 buses which will be bought by the Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC), the minister said that the expression of interest (EOI) for appointment of a bid management consultant has already been published.

“Following the appointment of Bid Management Consultant, the tender for procurement of 1,000 DTC buses will be issued. The target is to rollout these buses within a year,” he said.

Delhi at present has 5,425 buses against the required fleet size of 11,000, which is mandated by the Delhi High Court. On Thursday, the government had also announced it would procure 500 electric buses after it faced flak for not utilising over ₹829 crore funds it collected as an “environment compensation charge.”