[sustran] BMTC has the money, but no buses

[Vinay Baindur]

http://www.expressbuzz.com/edition/story.aspx?Title=BMTC%20has%20the%20money,%20but%20no%20bus&artid=Vg5S1IjOgRE=&SectionID=wIcBMLGbUJI=&MainSectionID=wIcBMLGbUJI=&SectionName=UOaHCPTTmuP3XGzZRCAUTQ==&SEO=BMTC,%20BANGALORE,%20BUS
BMTC has the money, but no buses

BANGALORE: Deadliness set, funds available and announcements made. But BMTC
cannot induct 1,000 new buses by June 30. Reason: Low production capacity of
manufacturing firms. The Centre under the Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewal
Mission (JNNURM) has made available funds to city transport agencies for
purchase of buses.
Only 20-30 pc available in time The one-time grant would be of great help in
expanding the BMTC fleet but inducting 1,000 new buses by June 30, 2009 is
“humanly impossible," said a senior official at BMTC. “Only 20 to 30 per
cent of the required number may be available on time,” he added.
Deadline relaxation needed JNNURM scheme is applicable to 35 cities (with a
million-plus population) across India and all city transport corporations
need to purchase buses before the deadline, which implies a requirement of
18,000 new buses by June 30, 2009. JNNURM guidelines also stress on
promoting Indian bus firms.
Considering the production capacities of bus companies, no urban transport
corporation would be able to add all new buses in time. If all corporations
make a request to the department of urban development of Union Government,
they my consider extending the deadline, a BMTC official said.
“BMTC might need an extension of just three months to meet the demand if the
bus companies give preference to BMTC as it was the first amongst the city
transport corporations to call for tenders and place orders in this regard,”
the official said. BMTC, however, could avail the funds against the buses
already inducted in 2008-09 as the funds cover only that year.
Not all hi-tech The state government in its current budget has a provision
of Rs 500 crore for adding 1,000 “hi-tech” (usually low-floor) buses to
BMTC’s fleet.
However, the acceptable height of the bus floor under the JNNURM guidelines
is upto 900 mm. However, at least 20 per cent of buses have to be low-floor
(floor height 385-400 mm). Rest could be semi-low floor (650-850 mm) and
Normal (900 mm) buses.
On whether all new buses would be hitech low floor buses, the official said:
“The production rate of low-floor buses is low and they are very expensive.
So, we decided to add 700 ordinary buses, 100 semi low-floor buses and 200
low-floor buses.” Following the direction from the Union Government on the
use of JNNURM funds for the purpose, BMTC published invitations for tender
on Feb 20 and finalised the bid by March 2.
In accordance with JNNURM guidelines on promoting Indian companies, BMTC was
looking at giving orders to Tata Motors, Ashok Leyland and Eicher. As Eicher
did not participate in the tendering process, the order for ordinary buses
was shared between Tata Motors and Ashok Leyland. Low-floor buses would be
supplied by Volvo.
Low production capacity Many cities including Bangalore, Delhi and
Ahmedabad, in the past, have suffered major setbacks in fleet-expansion due
to low capacity of the bus manufacturing industry. Delivery of buses came
with delay of months. Tata Motors and Ashok Leyland, together, have 90 per
cent share in bus manufacturing industry in India but they cannot deliver
more than a 100 buses every month. In the case of the delay in delivering
Delhi Transport Corporation’s order, Tata had to pay a penalty of Rs 2 crore
last year.
BMTC cannot procure all 200 low-floor buses on time too as Volvo, the
supplier of these buses, alone doesn’t have enough capacity to meet the
deadline and BMTC is not considering Tata Marcopolo buses at the moment.
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