Own Bus Terminal For Panvel

Panvel Municipal Council to invite tenders for 140 buses, terminal

NAVI MUMBAI: Panvel will have its own terminal and buses soon. Tenders have been floated to construct the terminal and purchase city buses for Panvel and its surrounding nodes. Panvel Municipal Council (PMC) has invited bids from reputed firms to provide services for public transport system.

The residents have been demanding cheaper mode of public transport for years, as they have to deal with errant auto operators.

PMC is set to introduce buses in areas like Kharghar, Kamothe, Kalamboli and Panvel, on the lines of Navi Mumbai civic body, to ease transport woes of hapless commuters. Central government has sanctioned funds for obtaining 140 buses in two phases under the extended project of Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM)

In the first phase, 50 buses of different sizes (see box) will be procured and the remaining will be added in the fleet after successful operation of the initial numbers.

The second phase could materialize sometime next year, depending on the response of commuters and quality of service.

The service will be provided on build-operate-transfer (BOT) basis and the civic administration is searching for a suitable agency to run the project. "In the next two months, we will finalize the tender process. Once the terminal is ready, we will procure the buses. The bus service is likely to be operational after the Lok Sabha elections, mostly by July," said an official.

PMC has approved Rs 3 crore for construction of the bus terminal on a 2-acre plot at Karanjade, which was a dumping ground. "A temporary shed will come which will be later converted into a proper structure,"said PMC sources.

The cost of the project comprising the fleet, bus depot, routes, bus shelters and other services is pegged at Rs 57 crore, funded by Central and state governments besides contribution of PMC.PMC is waiting to have the benefit of value-added tax waiver of 12.5 percent from state government on buses and other set-ups which comes to around Rs 6.5 crore. Else, it would be a burden on PMC's budget.