The frequent traffic jams on outer ring road (ORR) caused by buses moving in and out of the Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) bus depot at Kathriguppe may be a thing of the past in a couple of years as the corporation's proposed depot here will have grade-separated entry and exit from and to the ORR.
The BMTC has proposed to build an expansive Travel and Transit Management Centre (TTMC) on its five acres of land on which its Depot 13 is located at Kathriguppe under public-private partnership (PPP).
The busy ORR normally gets clogged in the early hours when buses come out of the depot as well as during shift change hours in the afternoon and closing hours during the night.
The depot is located on the left-hand side of the ORR (from Mysore Road towards Banashankari) and caters to bus services from surrounding areas, including Padmanabhanagar, Kathriguppe, Hosakerehalli and Srinagar. As a result, buses come in and move out on both directions of the ring road.
To make use of the land available there, the corporation has conceived of building a TTMC that can house commercial spaces, a bus depot and a bus station.
The estimated project cost of the TTMC is about Rs. 155 crore.
The private partner, who offers the maximum annual rent (concession fee) over and above the minimum reserve fee of Rs. 75 lakh, will get the right to design, finance, develop and be in possession of the commercial area for 30 years.
While the concessionaire has to construct and handover the depot and bus station within two years from the award of the contract, the commercial space should come up within five years of the commencement of the contract. These periods are inclusive of the 30-year concession period.
Commercial complex
Kathriguppe and Banashankari localities, which are devoid of any mega commercial hub, thus will get one with the proposed TTMC. BMTC has said the concessionaire can develop a hypermarket with 1.5 lakh sq ft area, discount stores with 1 lakh sq ft, food court, multiplexes (six screens), other retail and commercial uses for TTMC, such as ATMs and chemist shops. In all, there is provision to construct 3.93 lakh sq ft commercial space, the corporation has said.
Minimum obligation
Even as the BMTC has offered the land for the project, the concessionaire has to build and hand over infrastructure required for the depot and bus station. The minimum development requirements are 12 bus platforms; 15 idle parking slots, grade-separated pre-cast box type entry (from J.P. Nagar/ Padmanabhanagar/Banashankari) and exit (towards Mysore Road) for BMTC buses and other minimum requirements for a bus station, including parking space.
The depot to be constructed by the concessionaire should cater to halting and maintenance of 150 buses with repair bays, fuel station, cafeteria, retiring rooms and an administrative block.
The corporation is expecting to finalise the contract next month and the work is likely to commence in a couple of months, according to a senior official.
