The Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC) has proposed integrated bus terminals as part of which four bus stations in the State would be transformed into ‘bus ports’ by creating modern facilities on par with airports.
Officials at the helm of the cash-starved corporation have been working overtime to find new avenues to generate additional revenue. As part of the move, they have identified four bus stations at Tirupati, Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada and Kurnool to be spruced up with modern amenities to provide better services to passengers, besides generating revenue from the commercial establishments proposed to be developed on Public-private partnership (PPP) model.
These bus stations in prime locations have considerable stretches of vacant and unutilised land that have a potential for revenue generation. The Andhra Pradesh Urban Infrastructure Asset Management Limited (APUIAML) has been roped in as the transaction advisor and it will carry out the Quality and Cost Based Selection (QCBS) process for selection of a consultant to take up the master planning and designing of the project.
“The size of the project will depend on the available land. The Tirupati bus station, with 64 platforms spreading across 13 acres of land, is the biggest of all and it may cost around ₹250 crore,” said Ch. Dwaraka Tirumala Rao, Managing Director of the APSRTC.
Modern amenities
The plan is to raise a grand structure with 15 floors, including two cellars and a mezzanine floor. “The first two floors will house all RTC offices while the rest will have commercial establishments such as hotels, a convention centre, a shopping complex and other facilities,” he said.
The RTC bus station at Maddilapalem in Visakhapatnam will the second biggest project to come up in around three acres, while the bus depots at Autonagar in Vijayawada offers 1.80 acres of vacant land and the one at Rajvihar in Kurnool district has 1.93 acres.
All the three bus stations will have passenger amenities such as Internet cafes, dormitories and convention centres.
“The present set-up of the bus platforms, the information display system and the public announcements will continue and new facilities will be added,” Mr. Rao explained, informing that the APSRTC will lease out the new facilities tentatively for 49 years.
During the construction period, the APSRTC will need alternative bus stations to operate its services. In the smaller bus stations, it will divert buses to other depots. “Since the Tirupati bus station has a large fleet of buses, we have requested the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) to give us an alternative land for temporary use as a bus station during the construction period,” said Mr. Tirumala Rao.
It may take six months for the tendering process and a little over two years for the projects to be ready. “These four places will be elevated as bus ports by creating facilities on par with airports,” he said.
