After a failed attempt towards construction of 400 new bus shelters in the city as announced in the beginning of the year, the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) is now keeping its fingers crossed in expectation of bids for construction and modernisation of more than 800 bus shelters in the city.
After being unsuccessful in eliciting response to its previous bid, the corporation has prepared a fresh request for proposal (RFP) for construction of 826 bus shelters in four packages with assistance from the Administrative Staff College of India (ASCI).
As per project details, the re-tendering will be based on Design, Build, Finance, Operate & Transfer (DBFOT) model, with no financial or staffing burden on the GHMC. The contracting agency can look forward to getting advertisement revenue from the bus shelters.
In the Package I, a total of 110 new bus shelters will have to be constructed, along with demolition and reconstruction of new ones at 104 locations. In Package II, it will be 119 new shelters along with demolition and reconstruction of 100. In Package III, a total of 98 shelters will be erected anew, along with demolition of 96 and construction of new ones in their place. Package IV will entail construction of 103 new shelters and demolition and re-erection of 96.
Monday was the last date for receiving queries. A pre-bid conference will be held on Tuesday, and September 23 has been set as date for response to queries. Due date for bids is October 3.
Evaluation of the tenders has been handed over to the ASCI as the agency which had studied the lack of bus shelters and identified, through scientific assessment, the strategic locations where shelters may be constructed, an official said.
There are over 2,300 bus-stops within the Greater Hyderabad limits, but more than 800 do not have shelters of any kind. Even major stops such as Lakdikapul, Legislative Assembly, Shivam road, Punjagutta, Himayat Nagar, RTC Crossroads, among others do not have shelters, leaving the public exposed to sun and rain.
“Lack of bus shelter is a major issue at this stop, as the frequency of some buses is quite low. During summer, there were instances where old people collapsed due to exhaustion,” says N.Suneetha Reddy, a commuter from Shivam road.
Some of these shelters such as the one near Assembly were removed as they hindered the progress of the ongoing Hyderabad Metro Rail works, while some others were demolished owing to traffic issues.
