Infra firms in race for Rs 1,300 cr intermodal transit centre

A dozen infrastructure companies are in race to bag the Rs 1,300 crore project to build an intermodal transit centre (ITC) on a 40-acre plot at Subhashnagar in the heart of Bangalore city.

The Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation and Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation are jointly developing IMTC on a design, build, finance, operate and transfer (DBFOT) basis. The request for proposal (RFP) would be issued next week, Gaurav Gupta, managing director, KSRTC, said.

The shortlisted companies are: L&T, Hindustan Construction Company, Nagarjuna Construction Company, Gammon India, GMC Projects, Gayatri Projects, Shriram Properties, Soma, IVRCL, Essar Projects and Ramky Infra.

“The ITC is to be developed on a commercially viable basis with private participation. The state government will provide the land, while the selected bidder will have to invest money to build the project. It envisages bus terminal facilities for KSRTC and BMTC with passenger amenities, integration of the terminals with Bangalore Metro rail system, parking facilities and commercial area,” Gupta told reporters.

Infrastructure Development Corporation (Karnataka) Ltd is the project advisor. The proposed ITC will have a 45-storey commercial tower with parking facility for 3,000 cars and bus bays for BMTC and KSRTC apart from an underground connectivity between Metro station and city railway stations, he said.

The successful bidder will be selected within two to three months and the construction would start by 2011-end and completed within the next five years, he said.

Earlier, BMTC and Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Ltd (BMRCL) signed a memorandum of understanding with each other for issue of common day Metro Bus Transit (MBT) passes and feeder services to Metro stations. MBT provides for a seamless integration of bus and Metro rail transport through a single pass. These passes are a precursor to a comprehensive common ticketing system which will be introduced after the introduction of the automated ticketing system in BMTC.

Speaking after the launch of MBT passes, state transport minister R Ashok said that the commercial operations of Bangalore Metro would commence from April 4, 2011 as an Ugadi festival gift to Bangaloreans. The trial runs are presently being conducted and the certificate from the commissioner of railway safety would be obtained before the launch, he said.

These passes will be made available at all the Metro stations, all feeder services and with other select BMTC service conductors. There are two categories of MBT passes, Saraag and Saral. The Saraag pass is priced at Rs 70 and entitles a commuter to limitless travel in all non-AC buses along with Metro services in a day.

The Saral pass is priced at Rs 110 and provides same travel facility in all BMTC buses, including Vajra but excluding Airport services along with Metro services.

The cost of first phase is estimated at Rs 11,609 crore. In addition to a common pass, BMTC has also identified feeder routes for the six Metro stations on the first reach of the Metro project. The BMTC will introduce feeder bus services specific to each Metro station, Ashok added.