 "Hardeep Singh Puri")
The government on Friday said it would issue tenders for 3,000 electric buses under the ‘PM-ebus Sewa’ scheme by next week.
Addressing a press conference at the Urban Mobility India Conference and Expo 2023, Union Minister for Housing and Urban Affairs Hardeep Singh Puri said tenders would be floated shortly.
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Manoj Joshi, secretary of the ministry of housing and urban affairs, said: “We’ve finalised the RFP (request for proposal) and are seeking internal approvals,”
He said a proposal for another 2,000 buses had come up from the Uttar Pradesh government.
The PM-eBus Sewa scheme, under which 10,000 e-buses will be provided to 169 cities under a public-private partnership (PPP) model, was approved by the Union Cabinet in August with an investment of Rs 57,000 crore.
“After the Cabinet approval, we had given a month’s time to states to send us proposals. Other states are working on their proposals,” Joshi said.
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The scheme was introduced to give a push to the slow adoption of e-buses in public transport, with fossil-fuel run buses being a source of greenhouse gas emissions hindering India’s decarbonisation targets.
Business Standard reported citing the ministry of heavy industries data that despite the approval of 7,210 e-buses under the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of (Hybrid &) Electric Vehicles (FAME-II) scheme, as compared to the initial target of 7,090, only 2,435 had been put into operation as of August.
Since 2014, India has witnessed the sale of 816,356 buses across segments. However, the proportion of e-buses is at 0.63 per cent. This is equivalent to 5,124 units, according to the VAHAN portal of the ministry of road transport and highways (MoRTH).
Delhi-Meerut RRTS to be expanded by Jan-Feb
After Prime Minister Narendra Modi flagged off the first section of the 82-kilometre Delhi-Meerut Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS), the next RRTS segment will be opened by January-February next year, Puri told reporters.
Currently, the 17-km RRTS section open to the public has limited utility and more sections need to be opened for it to capture more users. The National Capital Region Transport Corporation plans to open new sections every six months.
Puri said the entire corridor would be ready by 2025.
