Delhi govt gives 'in principle' approval for procurement of 1000 e buses

Delhi government today gave "in principle" approval for procurement of 1,000 electric buses that will hit the city roads from June-July next year, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said.

The approval to Transport department's proposal for e buses was given in a meeting of Delhi cabinet chaired by the Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.

"Cabinet approves hiring of consultant to run 1000 electric buses in Delhi. A big step in modernising Delhi's transport sector and reducing pollution," Kejriwal tweeted.

The government has directed Delhi Integrated Multi Modal Transit System(DIMTS) to submit its report on the proposal within three months, Sisodia said in a press conference.

"The e-buses will roll out by around June-July next year," he said.

Terming the Cabinet decision as a very big step to address the issues of public transport and pollution, Sisodia said that no other country in the world except China has such a large number of e buses.

The Transport department had sought cabinet approval to engage 1,000 pure, low floor airconditioned electric buses, in the Gross Cost Model of contracting under the Cluster scheme, so that further process of hiring project consultant for the technical detailing and bid process management can be carried out, said a government statement.

DIMTS will be the project consultant, it said.

Transport department will construct bus depots at six locations - East Vinod Nagar, Bawana Sector 5, Burari, Rohini Sector 37, Revla Khanpur and Narela- for parking the e buses.

Earlier this month, Supreme Court had questioned the Delhi government's proposal to procure the e buses over the time required to set up charging stations for the fleet.

Electric power for charging of electric buses and the housing of requisite numbers of charging units will be the responsibility of the concessionaire(s), who will arrange the infrastructure at their own cost, in consultation with discoms, said the statement