The State government will procure 12,000 BS-VI buses and 2,000 electric buses at an outlay of ₹5,890 crore, Deputy Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam told the Assembly on Friday.
The project would be implemented with assistance from the German development bank KfW.
The State government would introduce 2,000 BS-VI buses across the State and 500 electric buses in Chennai, Coimbatore and Madurai during the first phase, he said.
As part of the State government’s policy of using cleaner energy sources, it has signed a ‘Clean Bus Declaration’ with the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group — the first State in India to do so.
“This agreement paves the way for promoting pollution-free electric buses and buses causing the least pollution in the transport system,” Mr. Panneerselvam said.
In the Budget Estimates for 2019-2020, a sum of ₹1,297.83 crore had been allocated for the Transport Department, including ₹766 crore towards free bus passes for students and ₹250 crore as diesel price compensation, Mr. Panneerselvam added in his speech.
Chennai stands to gain
The State government’s ambitious plan to revamp the ageing public transport system is expected to bring significant benefit to the capital city.
The initial plan was to ply only 100 electric buses in Chennai.
But with the Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC) fully scrapping the 100-odd air-conditioned buses purchased under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM), officials expect the city to get more electric buses at a cost of ₹2 crore each.
The government's plan to replace BS-III buses with new non-polluting buses conforming to Bharat Stage VI (BS-VI) norms would also benefit the MTC, which has a fleet of 3,500 buses, of which about 2,500 would be replaced over time.
