KSRTC's Rs 1,500 cr project to take off in one year

GMR, Tata Realty, Gammon in fray for inter-modal terminal.

The Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation’s (KSRTC) ambitious plan for the country’s first inter-modal transport hub project is likely to takeoff within one year. The final bids for the Rs 1,500 crore project which was initiated two years back will happen by the end of this month.

The corporation which follows a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model for developing bus terminals has decided to set up the new intermodal transport facility at Kempe Gowda Bus Terminal (Majestic Terminal).

According to senior government officials some of the leading players in the infrastructure and construction sectors like GMR Group, Tata Realty, Gammon Infra have expressed interest in the project.

The inter-modal transit centre would link the bus terminus with the proposed Bangalore Metro, and to long distance bus terminus and also to the railway station.

“This will be the first of its kind in the country and after a long drawn two years of various processes and stages of bidding, the final bids will happen at the end of the month, said Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation Managing Director Gaurav Gupta.

He also said: “There were lots of technical bids, EoIs and pre-bid queries for the financial bids twice. We have given a lot of informations and clarification on issues like financial issues, commercial issues, revenue issues.”

The inter-modal transport hub will come at the 40 acres land available with KSRTC in Majestic. Once the bids for the project is done, it is estimated to start the work in 7-9 months for financial closure and the corporation expects to complete the projects within five years. It is also planning to set up new bus stations in Mangalore, Puttur, Hassan as a PPP model.

KSRTC a front runner in adopting technology is planning to track the long destination buses through GPS system. The corporation which runs about 7,700 fleets connects 110 various destination across the country including Pune, Mumbai, Thiruvanthapuram, Ernakulam among others.

“We are planning to track our long distances buses so that we can ensure the safety of the commuters. This will help us check various things like whether the driver is taking any deviation from the regular route, or making any stops at pre-designated points or even overspeeding can be tracked. We are at the final stages of the tender for the project,” Gupta added.

It has also introduced a paperless ticketing system for passengers who are booking journey ticket online. A passenger will receive an SMS on their phone while booking ticket and this can be used as a journey ticket with a valid id. KSRTC is also planning to send the vehicle number one or two hours before departure to passengers availing online booking facility.

“This facility will relieve passengers of the hassle of searching for buses. We always want to ensure comfort and safety of our users. That is a reason why we change our long distance buses every four years.,” he added.

The KSRTC is also targetting sales of around Rs 400 crore from the online booking facility.