Govt invites EoI for 1st pod taxi project in India
15 March 2018 5:03 PM GMT
New Delhi: The government has invited expression of interest (EoI) to execute India's maiden pod taxi project on Delhi-Gurgaon corridor, Parliament was informed on Thursday.
The development follows a high-level panel recommending inviting fresh bids for the project, also known as Personal Rapid Transport (PRT), conforming to the strictest safety standards on the lines of those prescribed by an American body.
"EoI has been invited for development of PRT Delhi-Gurgaon pilot project corridor (length 12.30 km) from km 24 at NH 8 (Delhi-Haryana border) - km 33.5 (Rajiv Chowk, Gurgaon) NH 248A Sohna Road on design, build, finance, operate and transfer (DBFOT) basis, Minister of State for Road Transport and Highways Mansukh L Mandaviya told the Lok Sabha in a written reply.
He said the EoI has been invited as per the recommendation of a high-level committee.
"The Committee has recommended following Automated People Movers (APM) standards prepared by American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) along with the general safety requirements, system safety principles, traffic control and protection etc," he said.
The proposed Rs 4,000-crore pod taxi scheme is a dream project of Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari.
The ambitious project has been plagued by delays as government think-tank Niti Aayog raised some red flags, asking the highways ministry to direct initial bidders to prepare a 1-km pilot stretch as all the technologies were unproven.
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