JNURM bus service to be expanded
Source: Hueiyen News Service
Imphal, November 04 2013:
With the proposal for operating the service of the semi-low floor buses provided under Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission (JNURM) on Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model not been able to realise so far as no bidders have responded to the tender call, the State Transport Department has started making necessary arrangements for expansion of the service route upto Bishnupur.
The PPP model for operation of semi-low floor bus services was first mooted in the meeting of the Unified Metropolitan Transport Authority (UMTA) held in October 2011 .
UMTA has been constituted by the State Government with representatives from various departments.
Accordingly, the tender notice had been issued to invite willing private firms or individuals for the operation of the service of semi-low floor buses with November 26, 2011 as the last date for submission of the bid documents.
However, no one responded to the tender notice.
Consequently, fresh tender notice had been issued on December 7, 2011 after making some modifications in the terms and condition of the tender to encourage no bidders to come forward and fixed December 2011 as the last date of submission of the required bid-documents.
As none responded to the tender notice for the second time, the last date of submission of bid documents too was extended till March 14, 2012.But again there was no response.
As a result, operation of the JNURM bus services under PPP model still remain a distant dream.
In spite of this setback, the Transport Department has decided to extend the service of semi-low floor bus services upto Bishnupur after making some changes in the routes of the buses which are in operation presently.
The move has been made for the conveniences of people coming to Imphal from far flung areas after taking due consideration of the fact that the routes of all the buses in service passed through Khwairamband Bazar and the routes have also been expanded successfully.
The route of the bus which was doing service from Khrairamband Bazar to Tiddim Road has now been extended upto Lilong.
The bus which was in service upto Khurai extended the route upto Khabeisoi and the route of one which was in service upto Chingmeirong now extended upto Koirengei.
It may be noted here that so far, the Government of Manipur has received 14 semi-low floor buses out of the total 25 buses sanctioned.