The Kerala Urban Road Transport Corporation (KURTC), a subsidiary of the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC), will start functioning from the Thevara bus-station in Kochi on November 1 for the operation of 400 low-floor buses to be procured under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM).
Director boardAs the KURTC is under the State-owned transport utility, KSRTC Chairman and Managing Director Antony Chacko will head the new special purpose vehicle (SPV). The 13 directors, including six non-officials, of the KSRTC director board have been retained by the government.
In addition, Local Self-Government Principal Secretary A.P.M. Mohammed Haneesh has been included on the board.
But, the government has not appointed a member from the financial institutions on the board as requested by the KSRTC CMD.
Setting up of the SPV was the main condition put forth by the Central Sanctioning and Monitoring Committee on Urban Infrastructure and Governance in September 2013 for the release of the first tranche of funds for the purchase of 400 buses under the JNNURM extended scheme.
Set up on the lines of the SPV in Karnataka, the KURTC will function from the Thevara bus-station building. A meeting chaired by Mr. Chacko at the bus-station on October 10 had worked out the details for putting the SPV into operation.
Official sources told The Hindu that three bus bay garages would become functional with all facilities. All the 59 JNNURM buses attached to the Ernakulam depot would be shifted to Thevara maintaining the present schedule. The 400 buses, to be procured, will be operated to major towns and cities in 12 districts, grouped under five clusters.
