The Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation will float tenders for direct procurement and operation of e-buses only after the Lok Sabha elections. The BMTC Board recently decided to scrap the previous tender for leasing and operating e-buses through a private party and go for direct procurement by utilising the Central subsidy.
The Centre had earlier set February 28 for the BMTC to issue supply order for the bidder. With the change in the stand of the Board, the BMTC has now approached the Union government seeking extension to use the subsidy under the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric Vehicles India (FAME India) scheme.
N.V. Prasad, MD, BMTC, told The Hindu, “It is not only the BMTC, the BEST in Mumbai and other corporations have also approached the Union government seeking extension of dates to utilise the fund. We are confident that the government will consider our request.”
Asked about when the BMTC will float the tender, he said, “The tender will be floated after the Lok Sabha elections. We cannot do it when the code of conduct is in place. Prior to that, we will be ready with technical reports and seek necessary clearance from the State government.”
Mr. Prasad said earlier, it was estimated that each bus could cost ₹1.75 crore, but it has now come down to less than ₹1.30 crore. He said the BMTC is also contemplating inducting more buses considering the reduction in prices. The BMTC is planning to procure 150 e-buses and 80 buses will be procured in the first phase. In February 2014, the BMTC first did a trial run of an imported e-bus. It had also planned to procure the buses but dropped the plan citing high cost (it was ₹2.95 crore per bus). In October 2016, the BMTC approved a plan to procure 150 e-buses.
However, it was only in January 2018 it floated a tender to select a private operator to run the e-buses and selected a Hyderabad- based company as the operator. In mid-February, the board of the corporation decided to shelve previous tender process and go for direct procurement of buses by approaching the Centre to extend the dates for utilizing subsidy.