Residents of areas around Rajiv Gandhi Salai, East Coast Road, Alandur and Ambattur will have to wait for some more time for modernised stainless steel bus shelters, as not enough bidders participated in the retender, the process for which was completed this week.
Even though the next meeting of the Corporation Council is likely to approve the installation of around 750 bus shelters in areas such as Royapuram, Kilpauk, Ayanavaram, Purasawakkam, Kodambakkam and Adyar. However, around 270 shelters proposed in localities around Rajiv Gandhi Salai, East Coast Road, Alandur and Ambattur have no takers in the recent retender.
Corporation officials said that they will continue to call for retender for the works in the areas yet to be covered.
However, a few of the contractors said the shelters on the stretches in interior areas near Rajiv Gandhi Salai, East Coast Road, Alandur and Ambattur are unlikely to be attractive in the coming months for them because of various factors including fear of pilferage.
The Corporation should build the shelter and then call for tender to operate and then transfer it after a stipulated period, said a representative of an advertisement company.
The stringent condition of the Corporation is one of the reasons for delay in construction of the modernised bus shelters, he added. “In the retenders, we did not get proper response for some areas. But the stringent conditions are incorporated to prevent revenue loss to the Chennai Corporation. We are also determined to complete the work as soon as possible,” an official of the civic body said.
Those bagging the contract would install the shelters and generate revenue by leasing out 180 sq ft of advertisement space on each of the three-pole shelters and 125 sq. ft in a two-pole bus shelter.
The two-pole structure will occupy only 20 feet of the footpath whereas three-pole shelters usually occupy around 30 feet which emerged as a hindrance in many localities earlier. Even though the advertisement space of 180 sq. ft for the three-pole bus shelters will be reduced to 125 sq. ft in a two-pole bus shelter, the advantage of reduced cost of commissioning the shelter is a gain for contractors as well as residents. As per the Build-Operate-Transfer contract, contractors will construct shelters made of stainless steel according to the design specifications of the civic body. Revenue will be generated by leasing out advertisement space.
