Cabinet gives in-principle nod for procurement of 1,000 cluster buses

NEW DELHI: Delhi Cabinet on Friday gave the in-principle approval for the procurement of 1,000 buses under cluster scheme from successful bidders, subject to approval from the Supreme Court and Delhi High Court. The decision was taken in a meeting chaired by the Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. Delhi government will bear an estimated expenditure of around Rs 276 crore for the engagement of 1,000 buses under the cluster scheme for the first year of operations.

"I am happy to announce that the cabinet has given the in-principle nod for procurement of 1,000 standard floor buses under cluster scheme. It is after seven years in Delhi that the cabinet has approved the successful tender for 1,000 buses," the Deputy Chief Minister said.

He also said the processes for procuring further 1,000 buses for DTC and 1,000 electric buses are at advanced stages. Explaining the details of the cluster buses, transport minister Kailash Gehlot said, "Delhi government is committed to augment the public transport in the national capital at an affordable price to ensure that residents do not face any problem in commuting and at the same time their safety is ensured. Public transport is the only viable answer to curb air pollution in Delhi and reduce congestion on roads."

Each of the new buses will have following features–three IP based CCTV camera, panic buttons, inbuilt GPS and an anti-skid system. Under the cluster scheme, the Delhi government has to bear the viability gap to meet the deficit between the actual payment which shall be made to the Concessionaire and revenue (mainly by the fare collection). Currently, the monthly deficit in the operation of Non-AC standard size cluster buses is about Rs 1.92 lakh per bus. During the financial year 2017-18, a budget provision of Rs 400 crore was made to meet the viability gap deficit between the payment incurred to the concessionaires, integrated Mechanism fee, conductors wages, fare collection management fee and the actual amount realized from the fare box collection.