Construction of modernised bus shelters across the city, GHMC’s much-vaunted project, may be inordinately delayed, thanks to several roadblocks that have cropped up during the implementation.
Non-viability of sites is a major factor coming in the way of many bus shelters. While difficulties are being faced even in modernisation of the existing shelters, none among the new ones could even be grounded, sources say.
To be shifted
At least 10 AC bus shelters have to be shifted from the location they were initially planned at, due to various issues. An AC shelter intended at Lakdikapul now has to find another place owing to metro rail station there. “The AC shelters need at least 10-metre uninterrupted length for construction, which is not available at Lakdikapul due to metro rail. Hence, it has to be shifted,” shared an official from GHMC.
It may be noted, however, that metro rail work was already on when the shelter was conceptualised and work awarded.
At Hi-Tec City too, the proposed AC shelter had to be withdrawn owing to the upcoming HMR project. At other locations such as Ameerpet, bus shelters cannot be constructed owing to paucity of space and continuous traffic flow. Alternative locations have to be found for construction of these 10 AC bus shelters. Besides, many locations chosen for construction of new shelters are not feasible, the officials say. They were chosen by the Administrative Staff College of India (ASCI) through a study done by their team. “We do not know the criteria applied for selection, but many locations chosen are where the city buses do not stop. We need to change all locations for new shelters now,” says the official.
ASCI had initially planned shelters at 430 locations — all new — but there was no response to the tender announcement. GHMC then added the existing shelters in the name of modernisation, to make it more attractive. Bids were invited for 826 shelters in four packages and handed over to three concessionaires on Design-Build-Finance-Operate-Transfer (DBFOT) basis. Four types of shelters, graded on basis of facilities, have been planned. Model shelters were constructed before escalating the project to full scale.
At quite a few locations, the shelters had to be shelved owing to ongoing works such as flyovers and underpasses as part of SRDP, foot-over-bridges, and road widening projects. Another issue is threats issued by the commercial establishments and traffic police to the agencies, to the effect that the shelters would be uprooted if they come up hindering the shop view or interfering with traffic.
“At one location, the agency was threatened by the management of a well known retail chain store not to build the shelter there. Why would a private partner take such risk, when the deal is that he has to invest all the money,” asks the official.