The proposal to construct a bus stand for private buses at Pumpwell has taken a leap forward with a semi-government body completing the feasibility study of the project for the Mangaluru City Corporation (MCC).
H.N. Gopalakrishna, Commissioner, MCC told The Hindu that Infrastructure Development Corporation (Karnataka) Ltd. (iDeCK), which undertook the study, would submit a report to the corporation within a week.
It would be placed before the corporation council for its perusal. A detailed project report (DPR) would be prepared later. The study report would be placed in the council in its meeting in January, he said.
The corporation has proposed to build a state-of-the-art bus stand on 7.23 acres at Pumpwell. The land is at a lower level than the National Highway 66, necessitating a service road parallel to the highway for access to the bus stand. The council in a meeting in June 2014 meeting gave approval to construct the bus stand.
Currently, 525 buses (not city buses), including KSRTC, operate from the State Bank of India terminus daily, making 2,500 trips a day. About 150 buses are parked daily in the vicinity of the SBI terminus and the bus stand proposed at Pumpwell should be able to take this load.
According to a concept plan of the project prepared by a consultant earlier, 76 buses could be parked at a time in three levels (floors). It would be three times more than the facility now at the SBI terminus.
According to the plan, a commercial building could be built, attached to the three floors. Parking for 120 cars could be provided in the building in two floors. Above these two floors, provision for shops could be made.
Entry to the terminal could be from the Nanthoor side and the exit could be towards the Pumpwell Circle side. An underpass would have to be built to allow buses coming from the Kasaragod and Puttur side to reach the ground floor. Buses from Udupi and Karkala, Moodbidri side would have to enter the terminal through another entrance to reach the second and the third floors.
