Jain to visit Singapore to study about BRT corridor

Delhi PWD Minister Satyendar Jain, along with a team of civil engineers, will visit Malaysia for a detailed study and observation of an elevated Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) corridor, with plans to decongest the national Capital’s roads.

On January 19, deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia started the process of dismantling the controversial BRT corridor from Moolchand to Ambedkar Nagar, a Rs 180-crore traffic project built in 2008, and took a swipe at the previous Sheila Dikshit government for its “copy-paste” work. 

“We are determined to bring in the elevated BRT and make it a success. But for that, we have to first build elevated roads. Our plan is to make double-elevated roads — one dedicated for the BRT and the second for an Expressway. This corridor will be much cheaper than the Metro, which costs Rs 500 crore per km,” said Kejriwal while addressing press conference in Delhi Secretariat.

Kejriwal said the Expressway, slated to be on the third level from ground, will be a high-speed access controlled road that will cater to the ‘rich’. “The Expressway will have high rates and will be meant for the rich. Whatever we earn from there will go towards funding the BRT corridor,” he added.

“The idea is to decongest roads across the city and for that implementing the BRT is crucial,” Kejriwal said. 

The concept of an elevated BRT corridor though, which the PWD minister and engineers are going abroad to study, isn’t new in Delhi. In 2009, the Congress government had planned to construct the East-West Corridor from Anand Vihar to Punjabi Bagh via New Delhi railway station on the same lines. Again in 2011, the Sheila Dikshit government unsuccessfully tried to revive the project.

Kejriwal said the government is grappling with the monopoly of a single company in manufacturing buses. 

“The Tatas have a monopoly in manufacturing buses and the cost of these buses is exorbitant. So, to expand our options, we are going to invite tenders from companies across the globe.

“We hope that with competitive bidding, there will be cheaper options. There is an urgent need to bring in more buses but the process will take some time,” he explained.